Title: Milestones: 1993–2000 - Office of the Historian
Headings: Bill Clinton, Boris Yeltsin, and U.S.-Russian Relations
Milestones: 1993–2000
Bill Clinton, Boris Yeltsin, and U.S.-Russian Relations

Content: Throughout the Clinton administration, U.S.-Russian relations were embroiled over  how to address the challenges of European security. During the Cold War, the two  sides organized on opposite sides of the Iron Curtain: in 1949, the United  States and its Western European allies established the North Atlantic Treaty  Organization (NATO); and in 1955, the Soviet Union and its Eastern European  allies established the Warsaw Treaty Organization. When the Warsaw Pact formally  disbanded in February 1991, NATO began to debate in earnest how to adapt the  alliance to the realities of post-Cold War Europe, including a proposal to  expand membership to include countries in the former Soviet sphere of influence. The debate became more urgent with the outbreak of war in the former Yugoslavia,  in particular, Bosnia-Herzegovina in April 1992. In an effort to address  concerns in Warsaw, Prague, and other capitals—without at the same time unduly  raising concerns in Moscow—NATO formally agreed in January 1994 to establish the  Partnership for Peace, which in effect created a pathway toward membership for  nations joining the organization, without extending the security commitment of  the alliance. Russia joined the Partnership in June 1994. Despite this agreement  on paper, events on the ground increasingly threatened to undermine bilateral  relations. Clinton objected to Russian military intervention in the autonomous  region of Chechnya, including the siege of Grozny, which began in January 1995;