Leaders of NATO member states pose for a photo together at NATO Headquarters in Brussels on March 24.
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Leaders of NATO member states pose for a photo together at NATO Headquarters in Brussels on March 24.
John Thys / AFP via Getty Images
As Russia continues to attack Ukraine, NATO’s role comes first.
Here’s a quick overview of the alliance, the US role in it, and what it’s doing to help Ukraine amid Russia’s aggression.
What is NATO and why was it created?
NATO is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It was a military and political alliance formed in 1949 in response to Soviet actions.
Jim Townsend, who served as “Allies in the West began to see that the Soviet Union was trying to take advantage of them after World War II”. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Europe and NATO in the Obama administration, told NPR.
Townsend, who spent 30 years at the Pentagon, said in the early days of the Cold War, it was clear that Russia would be very aggressive. So the European allies got together and asked the US to join a new alliance.
The result is NATO. Retired US General and future US President Dwight Eisenhower is considered the first military leader of NATO: Supreme Allied Commander Europe.
In 1955, Warsaw Pact was established by the Soviet Union and seven Eastern bloc nations as a collective defense treaty in response to NATO.
Dwight Eisenhower, seen in France in 1951, was NATO’s first Supreme Allied Commander.
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Dwight Eisenhower, seen in France in 1951, was NATO’s first Supreme Allied Commander.
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Which countries are in NATO?
There were 12 founding members of the union in 1949: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Great Britain and the United States.
The union has expanded over time and its membership is now 30. The other countries are Greece, Turkey, Germany, Spain, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Albania, Croatia, Montenegro and North Macedonia.
Three other countries have announced their desire to join the alliance: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia and Ukraine. Membership is officially open to any “European State in a position to further advance the principles of this Treaty and contribute to the security of the North Atlantic region.” The decision to invite a country to join NATO is taken by consensus of the member states.
Ukraine did not join NATO – mainly because of Russia’s opposition to the bloc, and the conflict that joining NATO would cause.
What are the members’ responsibilities to each other?
Article 5 of NATO makes it clear basic principles of collective defense: If any member of the alliance is attacked, it will be considered an attack against all members.
And should such an armed attack occur, each member shall take such actions as it deems necessary to assist the attacked ally, “to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic.” What support is provided is decided by individual countries, along with other allies. The support doesn’t have to be military.
Article 5 has been invoked only once: After the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. NATO launched its first counterterrorism operation, to help patrol the skies over the United States. and prevent terrorist activity.
Even without invoking Article 5, NATO has taken collective defense measures several times, including in Syria and now with Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
Townsend likened NATO’s role to organizing a party for the member states and asking each country to bring something special for the picnic. Otherwise, “people will just bring chips, because that’s the cheapest.”
What is NATO’s relationship with Russia so far?
Mr. Townsend said there was a time in the 1990s when it was thought that Russia was likely to join NATO when countries such as the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland were preparing to join the alliance. But Russia’s trajectory changed in the 2000s, and that never happened.
NATO’s relations with Russia deteriorated in 2014, when Russia illegally annexed Crimea. Actual cooperation between the alliance and Russia has since been suspended, although political and military channels of communication have remained open.
French servicemen stand during an official welcome ceremony for the French Defense Minister at an air base in Romania on March 6.
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French servicemen stand during an official welcome ceremony for the French Defense Minister at an air base in Romania on March 6.
Daniel Mihailescu / AFP via Getty Images
How is NATO structured as a military force?
NATO’s multinational response force consists of troops from member states. Soldiers wear the uniforms of their respective countries, and individual military units are led by leaders from their host countries.
The Supreme Allied Commander is the head of the chain of command. An American always takes on this role, says Townsend, “because we carry most of the toys.” His or her deputy, says Townsend, is usually British and the chief of staff is usually German.
Why does Russian President Vladimir Putin oppose Ukraine’s desire to join NATO?
Putin has said that he considers Ukraine part of Russia.
“The idea that Ukraine is going to actually establish relationships – like a country – with the European Union and NATO, this upsets his thinking that Ukraine is Russia, Russia is Ukraine,” Mr. Townsend said. .
Robert Pszczel, a former Polish diplomat and former NATO official, says that one of Putin’s obsessions is Russia’s role in the global order. “He believes that Russia has the right, because it’s a great power, to dictate to other countries,” he told NPR. “The very existence of NATO creates a problem for Putin because NATO stands for collective security and upholds that international order.”
The Russian president also expressed concern that if Ukraine joins NATO, the alliance will packing Ukraine full of weapons – and within striking distance of Moscow. “In creating a threat to Russia, Ukraine creates a threat to itself” Putin said last month.
Several countries that border Russia are already part of NATO: Estonia and Latvia. Lithuania and Poland border the Kaliningrad region, the Russian part on the Baltic Sea.
What is NATO doing for Ukraine?
NATO has been accumulating battalion-sized “battle group” in the countries along the union’s eastern flank in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. These forces are prepared for combat and are led by Great Britain, Canada, Germany, and the United States, respectively. The alliance has sent aircraft and ships to NATO territory in eastern and southeastern Europe, and has a multinational brigade in Romania.
Last week NATO announced it would create four new battle groups in Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania.
The Alliance has also provided large number of weapons and equipment to Ukraine.
So far, the coalition has failed to respond to a repeated request by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy: impose a no-fly zone. That’s because NATO fears that doing so will lead to direct engagement with Russia, expanding the conflict into a regional war and even potentially a Third World War.
America provided Ukraine anti-aircraft weaponHowever, it can be used to shoot down aircraft and cruise missiles.
The alliance is likely to provide assistance in ways they don’t talk about as well. “Not everything should be advertised, for security reasons,” says Pszczel.
Some wondered why NATO did not give Ukraine everything that Zelenskyy asked for. ONE recent NPR/Ipsos poll found that 39% of Americans think the US should do more when it comes to the war in Ukraine.
According to Pszczel, NATO is doing many of the things that the politics of its members currently allow: “These are free nations, democratic nations, and they all have to agree with each other on everything. For now. , there’s no consensus. take a step or two and essentially send troops or engage in direct military confrontation with Russia.”
According to him, public opinion is a powerful force and there is strong moral opposition in NATO countries to Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
If Putin’s war continues, can a consensus be reached to take NATO engagement to the next level? Pszczel says: “The time will show.
