Previous Subchapter → 2.2 Russification
For the following months most of the movement from this point was diplomatic, even after Russia started meddling in Ukraine in 2014, a perception was starting to build that NATO was a relic of the past, commentators were declaring it obsolete, a remnant of an old order designed to contain a threat that didn’t really exist, Russia wasn’t made a pariah, wasn’t battered with sanctions, it essentially got a pass to have its way in the region, but in trying to swallow Ukraine whole the Russians pushed their luck too far, with the biggest shift being the movement of 2 more countries to join NATO, Finland and Sweden.
These were 2 countries that before the war in Ukraine had no interest in NATO membership at all, but after seeing the Russian Army storming across Ukraine’s borders and starting a new war in Europe, they changed their minds and opted to be in the safety net of a military alliance, ironically a war that Vladimir Putin started to contain NATO may actually be causing it to expand even further, as the Russian leadership’s attempts to threaten its neighbours create the exact reverse of their intended effect, not fear, but defiance.