PONARS Policy Memo 216 - NATO, Russia, and the Baltic States

After the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, Russian president Vladimir Putin was the first foreign leader to phone President George W. Bush to express his condolences. This move appeared to be more than just an isolated symbolic act. It seemed to be a harbinger of a fundamental shift in Russian foreign policy. Putin moved decisively to lower the temperature on issues about which the United States and Russia disagreed, forthrightly declared Russian support for the U.S. war against the Taliban, and even supported the establishment of U.S. military bases in Central Asia. That Putin did all of this in part to try to enlist the United States and NATO as allies in his war in Chechnya does not mean that his policy shift was a cynical ploy. Quite the opposite: Putin seems to be pursuing a general political alliance with the West on the basis of shared national interests—economic as well as strategic ones—and some in Russia’s political class have begun speaking favorably about the idea. Talk about the future possibility of Russian membership in NATO is even increasing despite the existence of contentious issues in U.S.- Russia relations, especially the future status of the ABM Treaty, Russia’s nuclear cooperation with Iran, and Russian opposition to NATO enlargement.