The NATO alliance and Russia

NATO plans to create a new rapid-response force – designed to go into action within 48 hours –  to defend the alliance’s eastern frontline states

NATO – 28 member countries, including United States, Canada and Iceland
Former Warsaw Pact allies of Soviet Union, joined NATO in 1999-2004
Former Soviet Republics, joined NATO in 2004
Former Soviet Republics before 1991 breakup

CZECH.
HUNGARY
BULG.
GEORGIA
ROMANIA
AZERBAIJAN
ARMENIA
SPAIN
TURKEY
PORTUGAL
ITALY
FRANCE
SWITZ.
AUST.
NETHERLANDS
SLOVENIA
CROATIA
ALBANIA
GREECE
SLVK.
UNITED
KINGDOM
DENMARK
BELGIUM
IRELAND
SWEDEN
NORWAY
FINLAND
LUX.
ESTONIA
LATVIA
LITHUANIA
GERMANY
RUSSIA
Moscow
Kaliningrad
UKRAINE
LATVIA
MOLDOVA
BELARUS
POLAND
KAZAKHSTAN
UZBEKISTAN
TAJIKISTAN
TURKMENISTAN
KYRGYSTAN
IRAN
AFGHANISTAN
PAKISTAN

Black Sea
Mediterranean Sea
Arabian Sea 
Atlantic Ocean
Caspian Sea

500 miles
800km

NATO, RUSSIA
Population - 917 million, 142.5 million
Active duty troops - 3,585,000, 845,000
Reserves - 2,400,000, 2,000,000
Tanks - 7,500. 2,550
Combat aircraft - 5,900, 1,456
Nuclear warheads* - 2,580, 1,800
*Deployed warheads – U.S.: 2,130, France: 290, UK: 160

2009: Members of Collective Security Treaty Organization – Central Asian Republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, plus Belarus and Armenia – sign mutual defence agreement with Russia to create joint rapid-reaction force

2008: Russia invades Georgia. Russia continues to occupy regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia


2014: Russia annexes Crimea from Ukraine. Former Soviet Republic is under threat of invasion by Russia

Sources: IISS, Federation of American Scientists, Bulletin of the Atomic

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