What is NATO and what are the member countries? | war russia

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) He is one of the main actors of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The Russian President, Vladimir Putinhas used the “aggressiveness” of the Atlantic Alliance as one of its engines to justify its latest decisions, including the recognition of the pro-Russian provinces of the Donbas in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, NATO has announced that, in the event that Putin initiates a military action, it will deploy more troops in Eastern Europe. Meanwhile, former Foreign Minister Javier Solana has come to point out NATO’s opening to the incorporation of Ukraine as one of the triggers of the conflict.

Which countries would be involved in a NATO military operation? The organization has its origins in the signing of the Washington Treaty of 1949through which ten countries on both sides of the Atlantic undertook to defend each other in the event of armed aggression against any of them.

These countries were:

• Belgium

• Canada

• Denmark

• United States

• France

• Iceland

• Italy

• Luxembourg

• Norway

• Netherlands

• Portugal

• United Kingdom

Later these countries joined:

• Greece (1952)

• Turkey (1952)

• Germany (1955)

• Spain (1982)

• Hungary (1999)

• Poland (1999)

• Czech Republic (1999)

• Bulgarian (2004)

• Slovakia (2004)

• Slovenia (2004)

• Estonian (2004)

• Latvia (2004)

• Lithuania (2004)

• Romania (2004)

• Albanian (2009)

• Croatia (2009)

• Montenegrin (2017)

• North Macedonia (2020)

The Alliance was born formalizing the link between the defense of the United States and the countries of Western Europe. The legal basis was United Nations Charter, that recognizes the immanent right of legitimate defense, individual or collective, in case of armed attack.

The end of the cold war (1989) marked a turning point. The fading of the threat of military conflict prompted NATO to establish new forms of political and military cooperation to deal with regional conflicts and preserve peace and stability.

The summit held in Madrid in July 1997 It was another historic one: NATO began a phase of reform of structures and policies to respond to the new circumstances. The alliance opened the door to other adhesions.

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The process of evolution and transformation of NATO continued in the Prague Summit of November 2002. It was decided to expand the Alliance to seven new members from Central and Eastern Europe, bringing the number of Allies to 26. This enlargement process would culminate with the incorporation of Croatia and Albania in 2009, reaching the current 28 members. At the 2010 Lisbon Summit, the New Strategic Concept (NCE) was adopted, by which the Alliance prepares to face the new global challenges of the 21st century, such as terrorism, nuclear proliferation or cyber attacks.

This process of transformation of the Alliance has had a large impact on the organization’s capabilities, an area in which Spain has had a relevant weight. Thus, in November 2006, the Riga Summit declared the full operational capacity of the NATO Rapid Response Force (NRF), in which Spain has participated in successive rotations.