The nations of Eastern Europe had thrown off decades of Communist dictatorship in 1989, and President Mikhail Gorbachev had dissolved the Soviet Union in 1991. During Clinton’s presidency, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland joined NATO, followed in 2004 by Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. All of those nations had either been part of the Soviet Union or allies of the Soviet Union. Really, after what they did, did they ever want to be in the Soviet Union? It also led Finland and Sweden, two long-neutral neighbors of Russia, to ask to join NATO.

Source: CNN September 18, 2022 23:33 UTC