Allianz prepares for emergencies

The alliance has defined Russia as the greatest threat to peace. She also no longer rules out an attack by Moscow on an ally. However, there is still no permanent military presence on the eastern flank.

A British soldier at a NATO maneuver last May on the border between Estonia and Latvia.

Jeff J Mitchell/Getty

On a spring day in 1997, US President Bill Clinton shook the bearded hand of his President Boris Yeltsin. The NATO heads of state and government, the President of the Russian Federation and the Secretary General of the western military alliance had just signed the so-called NATO-Russia Founding Act. The mood in Paris’ Élysée Palace was exuberant. «The world my predecessors dreamed of and worked for for fifty years is finally within reach», Clinton gushed. “This document,” Yeltsin said, “will support stability across Europe and even beyond the borders of this continent.”

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