Can NATO Find A Way To Contain Russia?

Pro-Russian rebels prepare their weapons in the eastern city of Donetsk on Aug. 31. Russia's role in Ukraine has raised tensions between Russia and NATO to their highest level since the Soviet breakup more than two decades ago. Mstislav Chernov/AP hide caption

Pro-Russian rebels prepare their weapons in the eastern city of Donetsk on Aug. 31. Russia's role in Ukraine has raised tensions between Russia and NATO to their highest level since the Soviet breakup more than two decades ago.

Ever since the Cold War ended, the armies of NATO and Russia have been moving warily toward each other while their political positions keep moving farther apart.

Twelve eastern European countries have joined NATO since the Soviet breakup, and NATO is now on the verge of creating a rapid-reaction force for the region. Russia has sent troops into two former Soviet republics, Ukraine and Georgia, that have relationships with NATO, but not membership.

Every time one side makes a move, the other gets jittery. As a result, Russia-NATO relations are at their lowest point in more than two decades.

Is there a way for NATO to safeguard eastern Europe without making Russia feel threatened?

Right now, everyone is talking tough.

"Both Russia and the West seem cognizant that, like the edgiest moments of the Cold War, miscalculation is the greatest peril the danger that one side will inadvertently escalate the crisis, triggering a spiral of reprisals. Yet they are pushing nonetheless," Steve Levine, a long-time Russia watcher, writes in Quartz.

The current crisis over Ukraine is exactly the kind of confrontation that NATO has sought to preempt. After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, NATO countries no longer faced an obvious threat and the alliance lacked a clear-cut mission. In redefining itself, NATO moved eastward and tried to persuade Russia this was not an attempt to undermine Moscow.

To allay Russian concerns, the NATO-Russia Founding Act of 1997 stipulates that NATO won't put nuclear weapons or permanently base combat forces in eastern Europe.

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Can NATO Find A Way To Contain Russia?