On May 27, 1997, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) and Russia signed an agreement intended to bury the Cold War. Were there any illusions about the possibilities of peace at that time? The reports give us some thought about this issue.
1997: 50 years of hatred are gone
” Today we are building peace. “
On May 27, 1997, journalist Jean-François Bélanger was in Paris where he sent this report to Newscast at a summit with expected historical impact.
Michèle Viroly hosts Telejournal.
Sitting at the same table, 19 NATO members signed with Russian President Boris Yeltsin an action saying founder.
The text we adopted aims to end 50 years of cold war between the West and the former Soviet Union and to restore collective security in Europe.
It was an easygoing Boris Yeltsin who signed this Founding Act.
A dramatic twist, the Russian president even announced without any warning that he had decided to defuse nuclear warheads directed at NATO countries.
Jean-François Bélanger recalled, however, that Russia signed the new agreement with reluctance.
It was a military, political and economic weakened Russia that decided to accept the new agreement.
President Yeltsin has a good heart against bad luck, said Alexander Adler, a specialist in Russia.
Despite the awards, there are still traces of mistrust between Russia and NATO countries.
President Yeltsin was particularly opposed to the possible entry into NATO of Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic.
These incorporations will bring NATO very close to Russia’s borders, Moscow worries.
Despite Russia’s reluctance, the three countries were invited to join only a few weeks after the signing of the Founding Act on July 12, 1997 and entered the organization on March 12, 1999.
Russian Foreign Minister Evgueni Primakov then condemned the decision, speaking of a major offense on the part of Westerners.
In fact, mistrust is re -emerging between Russians and Westerners.
2002: a NATO-Russia cooperation
” Times are changing. Yesterday’s opponents became friends. “
Despite this, on May 28, 2002, as featured in a report by special correspondent Maxence Bilodeau broadcast on newspaper, The Westerners and Russians continue their rapprochement.
At a summit held in Rome, NATO member countries invited Russia to join a new institution, the NATO-Russia Council.
This institution aims to bury 50 years of fear, hatred and mistrust between the West and Moscow.
Westerners and Russians promise to work together to build European and international security.
The agreement provides, among other things, for increased cooperation in the areas of combating international terrorism and nuclear non-proliferation.
Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomes this agreement which he thinks is a very useful working tool.
But as Maxence Bilodeau points out, there may be friendship between Westerners and Russians, but we cannot yet say much about great love.
There is always a lack of trust in each other.
Russia is not yet fully integrated into NATO. The Cold War is not really over.
Ukraine, an explosive fault line
” The Russians are against NATO and we are for … “
” The West must understand this. Ukraine’s entry into NATO, for us, is a major, historic destruction of world politics. Because Ukraine is like our mother. “
On November 7, 2008, the Utime on earth featuring a report by journalist Alexandra Szacka.
The latter, 13 years after its broadcast, impressively reveals the Ukrainian question as a fault line that could lead to war between NATO and Russia.
In Sevastopol, Alexandra Szacka met Russians and Ukrainians living in Crimea, then a Ukrainian territory.
After verification, the journalist found out that the statements of Russian -speaking citizens about the imposition of the Ukrainian language of Ukraine are alarming and wrong.
Russian education is still predominant in schools. Russian language textbooks were even distributed by the kyiv government.
Instead, Ukrainian culture is wary of Sevastopol.
It’s even hard to find Ukrainian children’s books in the city.
The question of Ukraine’s membership in NATO also yields wicked and almost prescient comments in this report.
Rosalya Mikhailivna, a member of a Ukrainian folk group, wholeheartedly calls for Ukraine’s entry into NATO.
The Russians were acting as masters in Sevastopol and the Russian fleet had to leave, he added.
Dimitri Rogozine, Russia’s representative at NATO headquarters in Brussels, of Russia’s ultranationalist philosophy according to Alexandra Szacka, strongly opposes this scenario.
If Ukraine joins NATO, there will be a major conflict with Russia, says Dimitri Rogozin.
His words are particularly explanatory, as Dimitri Rogozin is ideologically very close to President Vladimir Putin’s positions.
Other Russian speakers interviewed by Alexandra Szacka in Sevastopol share the hostile positions of the Russian representative.
A local representative declared that if the NATO fleet settled in Sevastopol, it would be war.
Following the war that Moscow unleashed on Georgia in the summer of 2008, a woman from Sevastopol said she was confident Russia would help Russian speakers in Crimea to protect their rights.
Several men also testified that they were ready to fight in NATO and Ukraine.
In 2014, President Vladimir Putin seized Crimea in a war against Ukraine.
The situation has continued to worsen since the two countries were stranded in a general and deadly rivalry that erupted on February 24, 2022.
Several NATO countries are assisting Ukraine’s military against Russia without being directly involved in the conflict.
The situation in Ukraine is delicate and could plunge the West and Russia back into a more or less cold war.
Source: Radio-Canada
