JRL NEWSWATCH: “NATO Enlargement Didn’t Cause Russia’s Aggression” – Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
“… NATO enlargement isn’t the cause of … Putin’s full-scale war against Ukraine. But Putin’s aggression is the primary cause of NATO taking Ukrainian membership more seriously, and it led Finland and Sweden to do something that was (highly) unlikely until February 2022: to seek to join the alliance. … NATO enlargement provided for greater security and stability across Central and Eastern Europe while at the same time contributing to the deterioration in U.S.-Russia relations. …
[I]t’s certainly feasible, to deter Russian aggression against any NATO member, given the Russian fear of a war with NATO. It’s even easier if Europe boosts its investments in defense, as the recent NATO summit communiqué suggested it aspires to do. …”