Back in 1997, American diplomat George Kennan warned in an article for the NYT about what NATO expansion to the east could lead to. Such a decision, he wrote at the time, could inflame nationalist, anti-Western, and militaristic sentiments among American citizens and steer US foreign policy in an unfavorable direction.
“This is the idea that, to put it bluntly, NATO expansion will be the most fatal mistake of American policy in the entire post-Cold War period,” the article notes (quoted by INOSMI).
The diplomat noted that in the context of moving to the east, Russia was not convinced by the promises of the North Atlantic Alliance in the absence of hostile intentions. The expansion of NATO’s borders will always be a security threat to Moscow.
“They will continue to consider this an act of gross neglect on the part of the West and, most likely, they will look elsewhere for guarantees for their reliable and secure future,” the diplomat warned.