If they join NATO, that means NATO forces are at the Russian borders. Russia considers Belarus and Ukraine as shared neighbourhood and Putin does not want them to join NATO.
Today, most of these countries have become members of the European Union and NATO.Įver since Putin came to power, the perception in Russia is that the West is expanding further and further into the east and entering into countries which are under Russian influence. Ukraine was a Soviet territory then under the influence of Russia and so were other Eastern and Central European countries. You can see that different parties were trying to get some diplomatic solution, but Russia decided to front-end the conflict.įrom a Russian perspective, they see that their sphere of influence got curtailed especially after the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1992. This issue has been going on for more than a year and has intensified now. Why would Vladmir Putin take such an extreme step by sending troops into Ukraine just because Kyiv wanted to join NATO? Why does he fear this prospect?
