The U.S.’s Pursuit Since 1994 of NATO Expansion into Ukraine

Russia in Global Affairs. 2024. Vol. 22. No. 22(3). P. 46–70.

Royce D. P.

The Ukraine crisis, erupting partially in 2014 and fully in 2022, was actually set in motion decades before then. Largely on the basis of declassified and leaked State Department cables and other US government documents, this article traces US policy on Ukrainian membership in NATO. Inter alia, the article reveals that, by 14 October 1994, the US had adopted the goal of Ukrainian membership, and by 2001, had begun taking concrete action to achieve this. Although the US failed to win Ukraine a Membership Action Plan in 2008, the US had actually sought one even earlier than that, and came closer to success in 2008 than is commonly realized. Nor has it been entirely unsuccessful since then, as it, in the years before 2022, managed to accomplish a substantial de facto partial integration of Ukraine into NATO, while maintaining the aspiration of Ukraine’s eventual full membership.

Keywords: Ukraine, NATO, United States, expansion, membership, enlargement