Akademik

(PfP)

   A security partnership operated by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Partnership for Peace aims to create military-to-military cooperation, trust, and good relations between the United States, Canada, Europe, and the former Soviet republics. Launched in 1993, the PfP currently includes all members of the Commonwealth of Independent States, Serbia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the traditionally neutral states of Western Europe (Ireland, Austria, Malta, Switzerland, Sweden, and Finland). A number of former members—including the Baltic States—later joined NATO. During the 1990s, Russia’s relationship with the PfP was ambiguous: on the one hand, membership was supported by the country’s Atlanticists, who saw it as a first step to eventual NATO membership, while on the other, Moscow viewed Washington’s budding military relations with the former Eastern Bloc and the Newly Independent States with suspicion, and the prospect of an alliance with Washington was viewed with derision by the nationalists and Communists. NATO’s eastward expansion effectively marginalized the pro-Western voices within Russia, turning much of Russia’s political elite against cooperation. However, Russia signed the PfP Status of Forces Agreement in 2004, and it was ratified by parliament in 2007. The relationship has served as a mechanism for Russia’s assistance to NATO in its operations in Afghanistan.