New Delhi: The idea of Russia joining the NATO isn’t as ridiculous as it sounds. It was a real possibility under Boris Yeltsin and the first term of Vladimir Putin. And then it was not.

Let’s take a quick walk down the memory lane.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formed in 1949 in the wake of the Second World War as a deterrent to the spread of Communism, particularly that of the nuclear-armed Union of Soviet Socialistic Republic (USSR). The United States of America, the other big nuclear power that played a pivotal role in defeating Hitler’s powerful army and saving Europe, vowed to remain the Big Brother with all its economic and military might.

But in 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed. Logically, NATO should have been disbanded — it no longer had a raison d’etre. But the European super cop found itself a new reason with active support from the US, which obviously liked the idea of being the only superpower. The post-Cold War role that NATO crafted for itself under a so-called Strategic Concept involved ensuring stability in Europe, especially as new countries emerged from the break-up of the Soviet Union. The idea was to be prepared should a new enemy emerge.

Boris Yeltsin, leader of the Russian Federation and who hated Mikhail Gorbachev and Soviet control, had mooted the idea of Russia joining NATO. Yeltsin knew that rebuilding the Russian economy would be an arduous task and aligning with the other democratic countries in Europe via NATO would make the job easier.

His suggestion was rebuffed........

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