US reveals documents about Clinton's willingness to consider Russia joining NATO

According to TASS on August 22, the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, emphasized during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2000 that NATO's expansion to the East did not threaten Moscow and declared his readiness to consider the possibility of Russia joining the North Atlantic Alliance. This was mentioned in declassified documents of the US Government, published by the National Security Archive public research organization at George Washington University in the capital on August 21 (Washington time).

"From the beginning of the NATO expansion process, I understood that this could be a problem for Russia. I took this issue seriously and I want to make it clear that NATO expansion does not threaten Russia," Clinton said, according to a transcript of his conversation with Putin in the Kremlin on June 4, 2000. The document was drafted by White House staff.

“I am very serious about being prepared to discuss Russia’s membership in NATO,” the 42nd US president said at the time. “I understand that internal considerations in Russia do not allow for that at present, but Russia should ultimately be a member of all the organizations that unite the civilized world. If our successors focus only on each other as the main threats, they will miss the opportunity to work together on other issues.”

"I understand that NATO still has negative connotations for many Russians. But I hope you will understand that the countries of Central Europe do not feel threatened by Russia. We want to help. In particular, we want to try to reach an agreement on what the world will look like in the next 10 years or so. I take that very seriously," Mr. Clinton added.

He also noted that he was “pleased with the resumption of cooperation between Russia and NATO,” and that things were “completely back on track.”

In February 2024, in an interview with famous American journalist Tucker Carlson, President Vladimir Putin said that Russia could have become a member of NATO if the United States had also expressed a sincere desire in the early 2000s.

President Putin recalled a meeting with President Bill Clinton in 2000 at the Kremlin. "I asked him: 'Hey Bill, what do you think, if Russia raises the issue of joining NATO, do you think it's possible?' Suddenly he said: 'You know, it's interesting, I think so.' And in the evening, when we met for dinner, he said: 'You know, I talked to my team - no, now it's impossible,'" the Russian president recalled the conversation.