!"#$#!$ % #$&'($)&#!

$)*

$)&!+(,--./01#2’-12.341251-,-647812941:5,78.7;
)<2
=>1?)$#'*1:(#'?@1A&'B'$1"#:'(1)$?1)*'C)$?'(1B'(AD=!E@1!"#$#!$1F!$&(#=G&!(A1+1HIJHKJLL
I0HH1"M1'&
&D'1B#'EA1'C"('AA'?1=>1F!$&(#=G&!(A1)('1&D'#(1!E$1)$?1$!&1&D'1B#'E1!:1&D'1D#**

AD)(' &E''& NNN M!('

Associated Press/Alexander Zemlianichenko

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers his speech during an awarding ceremony for the
Russian Olympic Committee medalists of the XXIV Olympic Winter Games and members of the
Russian Paralympic team, at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on April 26, 2022.
During a period of greater hope for Russia tempered by uncertainties,
President Bill Clinton sought both to enlarge NATO and build a
strategic partnership between the Alliance and Moscow. As part of his
National Security Council staff, we three worked on the approach that
produced the 1997 “Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation
and Security between NATO and the Russian Federation.” It formalized
a NATO-Russia relationship that we thought of as a potential “alliance
with the Alliance” and contained security assurances for Moscow.

While the Founding Act produced tangible results in its early years,
Europe today faces an aggressive, revanchist Russia. Russian President
Vladimir Putin’s actions have destroyed the basis for cooperation.
NATO should suspend the Founding Act and, in particular, renounce its
assurance regarding the stationing of conventional forces on the
territory of new member states.

NATO and Russian leaders met in May 1997 — two months before the
Alliance invited Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic to join — and
concluded the Founding Act. The document laid out the goals and
principles for NATO-Russia “consultation, cooperation and joint
decision-making and joint action.” Its ambitious framework reflected a
shared view that the Alliance and Russia could work together “to build
a stable, peaceful and undivided Europe, whole and free,” creating the
habits of cooperation that would, among other things, alleviate
Moscow’s concern about the military impact of enlargement.

The Founding Act contained two key assurances to show that NATO
enlargement posed no military threat to Russia. First, NATO members
reiterated that they had “no intention, no plan and no reason to deploy
nuclear weapons on the territory of new members” (the “three no’s”).
Second, the Alliance stated that “in the current and foreseeable
security environment,” NATO defense did not require the “additional
permanent stationing of substantial combat forces” in new members.
Russia pledged to exercise similar restraint.

Unfortunately, the European security environment did not develop as

NATO leaders hoped. The West was not blameless, but most of the
responsibility for the deterioration lies with Putin and the Kremlin.
Malign Russian actions have included a large military modernization
program, cyber-attacks, disinformation campaigns and an increasingly
hostile stance toward the West.

In 2014, Moscow violated commitments it made in the 1975 Helsinki

Final Act and reaffirmed in the Founding Act when its military illegally
seized Crimea and fomented the conflict in eastern Ukraine. This
February, Russia re-invaded Ukraine on multiple fronts, launching the
largest war Europe has seen since World War II. Russia’s actions have
violated its Founding Act commitments and eviscerated the goals and
principles agreed 25 years ago.

NATO leaders will meet in Madrid June 29-30 to adopt a new Alliance
strategy and measures to bolster NATO’s defense and deterrence
posture in the wake of Russia’s war against Ukraine. They should also
suspend the Founding Act.

The Alliance can continue to observe the “three no’s” in deterring

Russian nuclear threats. NATO should, however, renounce its pledge to
refrain from the additional permanent stationing of substantial combat
forces.

From 1997 to 2014, NATO stationed no ground combat forces in new

member states. The United States drew down its forces in Europe to
such an extent that, in 2013, it had no tanks permanently stationed
there.

Following Russia’s initial assaults on Ukraine in 2014, the Alliance

deployed, on a rotating basis, small battalion-sized battlegroups in the
Baltic states and Poland, essentially as trip-wires, and the United States
:
put an armored brigade in Poland on a rotational basis. This year, as
Russia prepared and went to war against Ukraine, NATO placed
additional forces on its eastern flank on a temporary basis, including
new rotational battlegroups in Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and
Slovakia, to deter the possible spillover of Russian aggression to NATO
territory.

Regardless of how the Russia-Ukraine war ends, NATO members must

accept that they face a long-term military threat to their east. Ensuring
that the Kremlin does not try something against a NATO member
requires that the Alliance station, on a permanent basis, more robust
combat forces in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania. To
deter today’s Russia, those forces should serve as more than trip-wires
and have ground and air capabilities sufficient to hold off attacking
forces until Allied reinforcements arrive.

E94O41/O41294174P2165<Q42-15R1357Q4S65P1</-4-1T.Q4TS1251U4V
FT.3/241T4;.-T/2.571.-1R.7/TTS194O401#2’-12.341251W5241R5O1S5,O1R,2,O4

Of course, Moscow will not like this, but it has forfeited any reason for
NATO to take Kremlin objections seriously.

The Founding Act was an opportunity to build a new Europe by

establishing mechanisms for dialogue and cooperation between Russia
and NATO. Unfortunately, it has failed. Suspension will leave open the
possibility that it might be restored at a future point, when Russia
renews its adherence to the principles of the rules-based international
order. However, that may only come after Putin has left office and a
new generation of Russian leaders demonstrates that Russia once
again shares the goal of a stable, peaceful and undivided Europe.

Ambassadors Daniel Fried, Steven Pifer and Alexander Vershbow are

:
retired U.S. Foreign Service officers. They served as senior directors on
the National Security Council during the Clinton administration and
later served in various senior positions during the Clinton, Bush and
Obama administrations.

&)XA1 =#**1F*#$&!$ #$&'($)&#!$)* "G&#$ (GAA#) GY()#$'

AD)(' &E''& NNN M!('

M5O41#724O7/2.57/T1$4Z-

)212941GA+)RO.</1*4/84O-1A,33.2@1T/,7<91‘"O5<4--1)RO.</’

INTERNATIONAL   J  [K1D!G(A1)X!

)1S4/O1/R24O12941&/T.U/712/Q45W4O@13S194/O21O43/.7-1.71Y/U,T
INTERNATIONAL   J  [\1D!G(A1)X!
:
 E9S1F9.7/1Z.TT17521.7W/841&/.Z/7
INTERNATIONAL   J  LH1D!G(A1)X!

(,-98.41/22/<Q1O4W4/T-1—1/;/.71—12O,417/2,O415R1#O/7./7
O4;.34
INTERNATIONAL   J  ^1?)>A1)X!

A441)TT

B.845JD.TTN&B

(.-.7;01),;,-21[L@1LHLL
RISING   J  ]1?)>A1)X!
:
(.-.7;01),;,-21[[@1LHLL

RISING   J  _1?)>A1)X!

?ON1"/O-.01GA17448-18.6T53/2.<1-2O/24;S1/T57;1Z.291GQO/.741/.8

RISING   J  I1?)>A1)X!
:
 A441/TT1D.TTN&B

A441/TT1B.845

&561A25O.4-

&O,3614S4-1U.;16O.`41.712/Q.7;185Z71F9474S

CAMPAIGN   J  a1D!G(A1)X!

A6.Q41.71:=#129O4/2-1,7-422T4-12941O.;92
TECHNOLOGY   J  [L1D!G(A1)X!

M<F/O29S1-/S-1F9474S’-1652472./T16O.3/OS184R4/21/
‘O4R4O478,3’1571b/7N1I16/74T
CAMPAIGN   J  a1D!G(A1)X!

A441)TT
:
M5-21"56,T/O

[ Laura Ingraham: Voters might say ...

L Trump says temperature ‘has to be ...

^ Spike in FBI threats unsettles the ...

] Weisselberg to plead guilty in Trump ...

_ Dog tests positive for monkeypox in ...

B.845

E/2<91T.W401"4T5-.195T8-16O4--1UO.4R.7;1/94/815R1W5241571#7RT/2.57
(48,<2.571)<2
B#?'!
:
E/2<91T.W401X/OT/78184T.W4O-1O43/OQ-1/R24O1:=#1-4/O<91/21M/O+/+*/;5
B#?'!

&9414W5TW.7;1T4;/T1T/78-</6415R1-2/241/U5O2.571/<<4--
B#?'!

E/2<91T.W401Y/O.741b4/7+".4OO4195T8-16O4--1UO.4R.7;
B#?'!
:
E/2<91T.W401"O4-.84721=.8471-.;7-1$)&!1O/2.R.</2.57185<,3472-1R5O
:.7T/781/781AZ4847
B#?'!

A441/TT1B.845

?!$c&1M#AA1)1=(#':N
A#X$1G"1:!(1!G(1?)#*>1'M)#*N

Your Email

A478

(4-5,O<4- !294O1)O4/-
&D'1D#**1)""A X)**'(#'A

"'!"*' &D'1D#**1b!=A

(AA $)&#!$)*1b!=A

F572O.U,25O-

AG=M#&1!"#$#!$1F!$&'$&
:
 Follow Us On

Get the App

?!1$!&1A'**1M>1"'(A!$)*1#$:!(M)&#!$

AG=AF(#"&#!$A

"(#B)F>1"!*#F>

&'(MA1d1F!$?#&#!$A

F!$&)F&

)?B'(&#A'

$'EA$)&#!$

='A&('B#'EA

$'CA&)(1?#X#&)*

THE HILL 1625 K STREET, NW SUITE 900 WASHINGTON DC 20006 | 202-628-8500 TEL | 202-
628-8503 FAX

© 1998 - 2022 NEXSTAR INC. | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

: