MINSK, 20 December (BelTA) - The documentary series Time Chose Us on the Belarus 1 TV channel looked into NATO's eastward expansion in 2004, contrary to the assurances “not one inch eastward” towards Belarus and Russia, BelTA learned.
In 2004, NATO was enlarging eastward very zealously. Both Belarus and Russia were told that it was done to fight terrorism. The fifth and largest wave of NATO expansion included seven new countries: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Militarily, their absorption into the alliance meant nothing.
Membership in the alliance imposes an obligation to commit 2% of national GDPs to the common military spending. The Baltic states could not afford it.
The stories about NATO being a defensive alliance are just that, stories. NATO would have five more waves of enlargement but it was the 2004 expansion that finally showed that we have no friends in the West. You can learn even more about important events of the past years in BelTA's YouTube-project How it Was.
In 2004, NATO was enlarging eastward very zealously. Both Belarus and Russia were told that it was done to fight terrorism. The fifth and largest wave of NATO expansion included seven new countries: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Militarily, their absorption into the alliance meant nothing.
But from a political point of view, it was a victory for the West. After all, back in the days of the Soviet Union, Western countries had promised not to move NATO eastward. West Germany was, in fact, the easternmost point of the alliance. “This is a conceptual thing for us: we do not accept NATO expansion to the east. That's why we have been conducting exercises and strengthening our army. We reformed our army very quickly. I have always said: not for war. We are not going to go to war with anyone,” Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said back then.
Membership in the alliance imposes an obligation to commit 2% of national GDPs to the common military spending. The Baltic states could not afford it.
The stories about NATO being a defensive alliance are just that, stories. NATO would have five more waves of enlargement but it was the 2004 expansion that finally showed that we have no friends in the West. You can learn even more about important events of the past years in BelTA's YouTube-project How it Was.
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