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NATO 'forced' 1997 agreement on Moscow – declassified files

Russia was being "forced” to sign a cooperation agreement with NATO because it had no other way to mitigate against the bloc's enlargement, former Russian President Boris Yeltsin told his US counterpart Bill Clinton in 1997, according to a newly released document.

On Tuesday, the US-based National Security Archive released a trove of now-declassified files that shed light on the deliberations that resulted in NATO’s expansion toward Russia’s borders in the 1990s.

One document features what was described as a “candid conversation” between Clinton and Yeltsin in Finland in March 1997, which paved the way for the signing of the NATO-Russia Founding Act two months later. The agreement was supposed to deepen cooperation between Moscow and the bloc, stating, among other things, that “NATO and Russia do not consider each other as adversaries.”

However, Yeltsin told Clinton that he opposed NATO’s expansion, echoing his earlier accusation saying that the bloc “was trying to split Europe.”

[link to www.rt.com (secure)]

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday that the world must not wait for the November presidential election in the United States to take action to repel Russia's offensive against his country.

“It’s time to step out of the shadows to make strong decisions to act and not wait for November or any other months to descend. We must be strong and uncompromising all together," Zelenskyy said in a pivotal address during a NATO summit four months before an American election beset by new tumult following incumbent President Joe Biden's shaky debate performance two weeks ago.

[link to www.msn.com (secure)]

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