Russia and NATO Expansion Eastward: Red-Lining the Baltic States

When [Yevgenii Primakov] and Javier Solana, NATO's secretary general, announced on 14 May that a 'tentative' Russia-NATO agreement had finally been reached, the Baltic states did not react with enthusiasm. Although Russia was not given a veto over any NATO decisions, the role it might now play in NATO counsels posed a dilemma for Baltic candidates. [Vytautas Landsbergis] demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from Kaliningrad.(f.20) A Russian foreign ministry official told reporters that [Boris Yeltsin] would immediately 'revise' the unsigned agreement with NATO if the Baltic states were admitted. Sergei Yastrzhembskii, a presidential aide, reiterated this stance, as Baltic leaders vigorously rejected Yeltsin's implied threats. The extremist communist paper, Zavtra, accused the Baltic leadership of playing a very dangerous game in attempting to restructure northern Europe and cut Russia off from the Baltic Sea.(f.21) The Duma adopted a draft statement which repeated that it found the admission to NATO of former Soviet republics, with specific reference to the Baltic states, 'unacceptable.'(f.22) The point was clearly made well before the famous Founding Act was signed. Russia's offer of security guarantees seemed to have backfired. On 8 November, the Baltic Assembly adopted a resolution asking NATO for immediate accession talks and on the 10th the three Baltic presidents rejected Russia's offer in a joint communique.(f.39) Duma members reacted predictably. Seleznev reiterated the government position: 'If the Baltic countries join NATO, we will revise the treaty with this organization.' Aleksei Mitrofanov, a member of Vladimir Zhirinovskii's radically right wing Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) and chair of the Duma Geopolitics Committee, called for tougher action against the Baltic republics and criticized the border agreement with Lithuania. Sergei Ivanenko, a deputy from the more liberal party, Yabloko, called Russia's offer an 'error' in the first place because the government should have known that it would be turned down.(f.40) The angry reaction from the communist press was to be expected, but Delovoi mir (Business World) also went on the attack, pointing out that Yeltsin had handed Lithuania a winning card in its application to NATO and warning that the Baltic states were prepared to put themselves forward to NATO as a package, rather than individually.(f.41) In Stockholm, Yeltsin surprised his hosts with a proposal to reduce Russia's mil