RUSSIA AND NATO: EXPERT COMMUNITY ON THE PROSPECTS OF RELATIONS
The article considers expert assessments of the current state and prospects for the development of Russia - NATO relations. The Stockholm International peace research institute plays an important role in the study of these relations. The author notes that the containment of the USSR, and then Russia, was and remains the key task of the North Atlantic treaty organization. The policy of NATO expansion is currently considered by the Russian military-political leadership as a threat to national security. The Ukrainian crisis of 2014 gave a powerful impetus to the activation of the policy of “military deterrence” of Russia. According to experts, the American military participation in the “containment of Russia” on the European continent at this stage is programmed as a temporary and reversible measure. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the formation of the Russian Federation, two relatively stable “balances of forces” have developed in the European security system: the constant superiority of the total number of NATO forces over the Russian Armed Forces; the overwhelming superiority of the Russian Armed Forces in the zone adjacent to the western border of the country and including the territories of the Baltic states and Poland. International experts have recorded signs of some stabilization of relations between Russia and NATO. In their opinion, overcoming the “rift” between Russia and NATO remains a key task in the field of ensuring European security. Progress in resolving the situation around Ukraine can become an incentive to restore the Russia - NATO dialogue. In general, there are two clear lines in the relations between the Russian Federation and NATO today: declarative and factual.