NATO-RUSSIA’s ‘CONFLICTUAL RELATIONSHIP’: ‘INSTABILITY’ AS A DEFINING FACTOR IN THE POLITICAL INTERACTION BETWEEN MOSCOW AND THE ATLANTIC ALLIANCE

Abstract

NATO-Russia’s conflictual relationship represents one of the main elements of the international system, at least since the end of the Cold War, having a significant impact in the rivalry involving Great Powers, such as: the United States, Russia, Germany, Great Britain, France and others. In fact, this intricate relationship between the Atlantic Alliance and Moscow has been tainted by mistrust, mutual accusations and ‘security dilemma’ situations, that has brought a constant state of tension in NATO-Russia interactions over the years. This paper aims to summarize, starting from the Cold War era, the main political events that led to the establishment of mistrust between these two actors, bringing forth both NATO’s and Russia’s views about how each other’s actions prompted long-standing perceptions of enmity that culminated in the current scenario of an almost ‘impending war’ due to the situation in Ukraine.