The first President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, in 1994, during a personal conversation with US President Bill Clinton, spoke about the expansion of NATO, which should end with the admission of the Russian Federation into the alliance. This became known from a declassified transcript, which is stored in the National Security Archive at George Washington University. The conversation between the two presidents took place at the Novo-Ogarevo residence.
According to the document, Yeltsin tried to convince Clinton to accept Russia into NATO faster than other European countries. The former Russian president hoped that in this way the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, which had recently freed themselves from the influence of communism, could again begin to focus on Moscow in matters of foreign policy. Yeltsin believed that Russia’s entry into NATO would enhance the country’s international image and strengthen global security.
In a conversation with Clinton, Yeltsin called Russia’s accession to NATO “a kind of cartel” that would unite Europe and the United States. In response, the American president “very carefully” noted that Russia has a great history, while Clinton did not put forward specific proposals in response to the request of the Russian President. From the transcript it follows that Clinton did not dare to discuss with Yeltsin the future military-political unification of countries under the NATO flag. However, the US President admitted that rapprochement between Moscow and Washington in military terms “could guarantee the countries of Europe a century of peace or more.”
Let us recall that in April 2022, Clinton published an article in The Atlantic magazine, in which the ex-president admitted that he offered not only Boris Yeltsin, but also Vladimir Putin to join NATO.
Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stated that he told Western leaders about Russia’s desire to join NATO, however, according to the Russian head of state, these proposals did not meet with support among the leadership of the United States and EU countries.
Source: Rosbalt
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
