Clinton officials understood Moscow’s objection to eastward expansion.
By Blaise Malley, Responsible Statecraft
This week at the NATO summit in Washington, alliance leaders are expected to sign a joint communique that declares that Ukraine is on an “irreversible” path to joining the alliance.
This decision is likely to be celebrated as a big step forward and a reflection of Western unity behind Ukraine, but a series of newly declassified documents show that the U.S. has known all along that NATO expansion over the last 30 years has posed a threat to Russia, and may have been a critical plank in Moscow’s aggressive policies over that time, culminating in the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

“The documents show that the Clinton administration’s policy in the 1990s emphasizing two tracks of both NATO enlargement and Russian engagement often collided, leaving lasting scars on [then Russian President Boris] Yeltsin, who constantly sought what he called partnership with the U.S,” according to the National Security Archive, which wrote about the newly declassified documents this week. “But as early as fall 1994, according to the documents, the Partnership for Peace alternative security structure for Europe, which included both Russia and Ukraine, was de-emphasized by U.S. policymakers, who only delayed NATO enlargement until both Clinton and Yeltsin could get through their re-elections in 1996.”
In 1995, then-national security adviser Anthony Lake warned President Bill Clinton that Russian leadership would not accept the expansion of the alliance to the East.
Recent Posts
‘Shameful Assault on Human Rights’: Trump Sanctions Palestinian Orgs That Called for UN to Investigate Israeli War Crimes
September 6, 2025
Take Action Now The former executive director of Human Rights Watch said Trump’s “answer to Israeli atrocities is to censor reporting on…
Hegseth Doesn’t Rule Out Regime Change In Venezuela, Suggests More U.S. Strikes On Boats Are Coming
September 5, 2025
Take Action Now When asked if the goal was regime change in Venezuela, Hegseth said that was a “presidential decision” and added that “we’re prepared…
Secretary Kennedy Doesn’t Care About Long COVID Patients
September 5, 2025
Take Action Now Reckless funding cuts have dealt a significant blow to ongoing research, derailing NIH-funded clinical trials on antivirals and…
Gaza’s Looming Cancer Epidemic
September 4, 2025
Take Action Now The Many Ways Bombs Can KillBy Joshua Frank, Tom Dispatch A week after the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023, a large explosion…