NATO, Russia, and the Cycles of Distrust
Cold War Origins of Suspicion
The roots of mutual distrust reach back to NATO’s creation in 1949. In the immediate postwar years, Western planners quietly considered military scenarios against the USSR—such as Britain’s “Operation Unthinkable” in 1945—which envisioned armed confrontation. Though never executed, the plan revealed the enduring Western assumption that the Soviet Union was a potential adversary.
From Moscow’s perspective, NATO’s very nature was offensive: a bloc built not just to defend, but to contain and pressure the USSR. To Western leaders, NATO was a shield; to Soviet strategists, a spear.
