From the War Against Georgia to the Annexation of the Crimea and the Following Increase in Military Tension

The aim of this chapter is to analyse the period between the second wave of NATO expansion and the end of the 2010s. This analysis is based on RQ 3 (Why is the structure of international security relations at the eastern border of NATO so confrontational?) and RQ 4 (What are the consequences of this trend?). The aim of this analysis is not at all to provide a defence of the RF and its policy. The aim is to explain the behaviour of the RF as a reaction to the second wave of the NATO expansion and to the publicly declared intention to invite Ukraine and Georgia to join NATO.