The former Soviet republics and members of the organization of the Warsaw Treaty (ATS) in Eastern Europe themselves chose NATO membership. This was stated by the Secretary General of the Alliance Jens Stoltenberg, challenging the statements about the aggressive expansion of NATO to the East. His performance is available on YouTube Channel Reuters.
“NATO is a defensive union. We never forced and did not force any nation to enter our union. So these references to the fact that the extension of NATO is aggressive, absolutely not correspond to reality,” said Stoltenberg to the press Conferences Following meeting of the Council Russia – NATO.
According to him, the expansion of NATO has become the cornerstone of the spread of democracy and freedom in Europe. He also noted that all members of the Alliance entered into it through independent democratic processes.