, Columnist
NATO Should Mend Its Rift With Russia — With Conditions
The alliance and the Kremlin have worked together and avoided conflict through communication, but recent Russian behavior has made relations impossible.
Russians torching flags, burning bridges.
Photographer: Maxim Avdeyev/AFP/Getty Images
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For many Americans, the news that Russia was severing relations with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization may have been a surprise only in the sense that few would have suspected such relations ever existed.
Yet since 2002 there has been a NATO-Russia Council to help avoid conflict and address shared concerns. Restoring that partnership would be in the interests of both the Western alliance and the Kremlin, but should not happen until Russia shows it is willing to play by the longstanding rules.