The NATO military-political bloc was created in 1949 in the United States with the aim of protecting Europe from the possible threat of Soviet expansion. Five years later, the USSR itself applied to join the alliance, but was rejected. In 2000, Vladimir Putin, as he said, suggested that Bill Clinton consider the issue of Russia joining NATO.
Why did the Soviet Union apply to join the bloc? Could Clinton's "restrained reaction" to Putin's proposal influence his decision to oppose Russia to the West? How have relations between Russia and NATO changed over the decades and at what point did interaction become impossible?
We talked about this with Dr Alexey Muraviev from the Department of National Security and Strategic Studies at Curtin University in Perth.
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