Quote from: DrBeer on Today at 11:35:41 AM

Ok, let's assume you're right.
Then a couple of simple questions:
1. When did Ukraine officially decide to join NATO?
2. Before that, were there NATO countries bordering Russia? If so, do they pose a threat to Russia? And why is Ukraine more dangerous for Russia?
3. What happened before - the event of the annexation of the Crimea and part of the eastern regions, or Ukraine's statement about the desire to join NATO?

Okay, let's look at this story in terms of the chronology of events:

Quote

1994 February, Ukraine signed a framework agreement with NATO as part of the Partnership for Peace initiative

1995 to 2003 Ukraine and the United States annually conduct the Peace Shield exercise

1997 July, at the NATO summit in Madrid, the “Charter on a Distinctive Partnership between NATO and Ukraine” was signed.

1997 July, command and staff exercises "Cooperative Neighbor-1997" were held in Yavoriv

1997, Yeltsin and Kuchma signed an agreement on the presence of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation in Sevastopol for the next 20 years until 2017

1997 An agreement was signed between the Russian Federation and NATO on the non-deployment of NATO bases in the countries of Eastern Europe and the Baltic States of permanent bases.

1997 NATO Information and Documentation Center opened in Kyiv.

1998 a Ukrainian representative office appeared at NATO headquarters and a special military representative of Ukraine began work

1998 November, President Kuchma signed the "Program of cooperation between Ukraine and NATO for the period up to 2001"

1999 April, NATO mission opened in Kyiv.

1999 June, Ukraine supported the NATO operation in the Balkans.

1999 Ukraine-NATO summit

2000 for the first time in history, the annual meeting of NATO's main political body, the North Atlantic Council, was held in Kyiv, outside of NATO member countries,

2000 Ukraine and NATO signed the "Status of Forces Agreement"

In 2001, the training center of the International Center for Peacekeeping and Security was opened in Yavoriv, Lviv region.

2002 Ukraine-NATO summit

2002 Adopted the "Individual Partnership Plan with NATO".

2002 May, the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine adopted the NATO Strategy, which provided for the revision of the non-aligned status in favor of starting a process whose ultimate goal was to become a full-fledged NATO membership for Ukraine.

On July 2002, within the framework of the Partnership for Peace program, Ukraine and NATO signed a memorandum on Ukraine's support for NATO operations.

2002 November, The NATO-Ukraine Action Plan is adopted, the relationship is further strengthened, within the framework of this plan annual Ukraine-NATO Target Plans began to be developed.

In 2002, the exercises "Cooperative Adventure-2002" were held on the territory of Ukraine, which became the largest NATO exercises in the territory of the CIS countries.

Exercises with NATO have been held before. Subsequently, joint exercises with NATO became almost annual.

2003 Ukraine supported the US operation in Iraq by sending its "peacekeeping contingent" to the region[18].

2004 April, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a law on the free access of NATO forces to the territory of Ukraine.

June 2004, in the Military Doctrine of Ukraine, a provision appeared on Ukraine's policy of Euro-Atlantic integration, the ultimate goal of which was to join NATO.

2004 July, following a meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Commission, President Kuchma issued a decree stating that joining NATO was no longer the country's goal, only "a significant deepening of relations with NATO and the European Union as guarantors of security and stability in Europe" was needed.

2004 August, US Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and Ukrainian President Kuchma meet in Crimea

2005 April, after the Orange "revolution" and Yushchenko came to power, a meeting of the "Ukraine-NATO" commission was held as part of an informal meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the NATO countries. Cooperation with NATO acquired the format of "Accelerated Dialogue", which was intended to be the first step towards Ukraine's entry into NATO.

2005 April, Yushchenko returned to the military doctrine of Ukraine the strategic goal of Ukraine - "full membership in NATO and the EU."

January 2006, in Budapest, following a meeting of NATO defense ministers and Ukrainian Defense Minister Hrytsenko, it was announced that these states were ready to support Ukraine's entry into NATO.

April 2006, at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers, the representative of the NATO Secretary General Appathurai said that all members of the alliance support the speedy integration of Ukraine into NATO. Russia, for its part, expressed concern about this development.

2006 September, after the government was headed by Prime Minister Yanukovych, there was a turn in Ukraine's foreign policy. Yanukovych's foreign policy statements contradicted Yushchenko's course.

2006 August, the press service of the new Ukrainian government announced that Ukraine was postponing the adoption of a "NATO membership action plan."

September 2006, Yanukovych paid a working visit to Brussels, where he made a statement about Ukraine's unpreparedness to join NATO.

2008 April, the US made significant efforts to convince its NATO allies of the need for Georgia and Ukraine to join the MAP at the alliance's Bucharest summit. This caused a complication of relations between Russia and NATO.

2008 there was a scandal, the reason for which was the statement of the NATO Secretary General that the organization had received a letter signed by the President of Ukraine, Prime Minister Tymoshenko and Parliament Speaker Yatsenyuk with a request to join Ukraine to the NATO Membership Action Plan.

2009 August, at NATO Headquarters, a Declaration was signed supplementing the Charter on a Distinctive Partnership.

2010 coming to power of Yanukovych. Non-bloc status has once again become a foreign policy priority for Ukraine. The law "On the fundamentals of domestic and foreign policy" was adopted

2010 April, Yanukovych liquidated the interdepartmental commission on preparing the country for NATO accession and the national center for Euro-Atlantic integration

April 2010, in Kharkov, Presidents Medvedev and Yanukovych signed an agreement to extend the stay of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol from 2017 to 2042. This caused indignation among the Ukrainian opposition and a brawl in the Verkhovna Rada.

2010 November, At the NATO summit, the former line on the involvement of Ukraine in the NATO Strategic Concept was consolidated

2013 February, Ukraine officially joined the NATO counter-piracy operation "Ocean Shield"

2013 November, Visit to Ukraine of the delegation of the NATO International Secretariat

2014 February, power changed in Ukraine

2014 February, visit of the delegation of the NATO Council

2014 March, Crimea was taken by Russia

2014 March, Ukrainian military delegation went to NATO Headquarters in Brussels to discuss "areas of strengthening cooperation" between Ukraine and NATO

2014 April, formation of the DNR and LNR

2014 April, a law was adopted on the admission of units of the armed forces of other states to the territory of Ukraine to participate in multinational exercises.

2014 from May to November, Ukraine is scheduled to participate in 15 NATO exercises

2014 NATO Secretary General Rasmussen at a meeting of alliance defense ministers in Brussels said that NATO remains "a sincere friend of Ukraine"

2014 December, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted a bill introduced by President Poroshenko, which canceled the non-bloc status of Ukraine

2015 January, Visit of a NATO delegation to Ukraine to hold the 20th meeting of the NATO-Ukraine joint working group in Kyiv

2015 September, The military doctrine was adopted, the priority task is "deepening cooperation with NATO and achieving full compatibility of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with the armies of NATO member countries by 2020."

2016 July, At the NATO summit, Russia was recognized as the main security threat to the alliance, and its containment was officially proclaimed the new NATO mission

2017 June, the Verkhovna Rada enshrined at the legislative level: NATO membership is one of Ukraine's foreign policy priorities

2017 July, NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg opened a new organization office in Kyiv

March 2018, Ukraine received the status of a NATO postgraduate country. Poroshenko asked for a NATO membership action plan to be provided to his country.

2018 July, President Poroshenko signed the law "On the National Security of Ukraine", which will help achieve defense compatibility with NATO countries.

2018 July, in Brussels, within the framework of the NATO summit, a meeting was held in the Ukraine-Georgia-NATO format

In 2019, constitutional amendments came into force, fixing the strategic course for obtaining full membership of Ukraine in the European Union and NATO at the level of a constitutional norm

September 2019, in New York, Zelensky met with NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg.

2019 October, the NATO Council and the Secretary General of the Stoltenberg Alliance visited Ukraine

2020 June, NATO granted Ukraine Enhanced Opportunities Partner status

2021 Ukraine held eight joint exercises with NATO countries

in June 2021, NATO leaders reaffirmed the decision of the 2008 Bucharest summit that Ukraine would be granted a NATO Membership Action Plan

2021 November, a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of NATO countries was held in Riga, to which the Foreign Ministers of Ukraine and Georgia were invited

2021 December, the Russian Foreign Ministry published draft agreements with the United States and NATO countries on ensuring the security of Russia and the alliance member countries. Namely, to legally consolidate NATO's refusal to further expand to the east and join the alliance of Ukraine. Kyiv considers such demands unacceptable.

2021 December, NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg rejected Moscow's demands.

10 exercises with NATO members planned for 2022