Verbovskyi Vadym Image of Enemy: NATO’s eastward expansion and Russian reaction

On the eve of the 90th anniversary of Mikhail Gorbachev (born March 2, 1931), as well as the 30th anniversary of the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact (February 25, 1991), our eyes once again, and not without reason, turn to the causes and consequences of the expansion NATO in Eastern Europe, which, in turn, was accompanied by increased military and political pressure on Russia in the first half of the 21st century. We are interested in the events that led to the fact that NATO, as an anti-Soviet military-political bloc, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, not only did not cease to exist, but significantly advanced deep into Eastern Europe and came close to the borders of Russia. As a result, we observe that the emergence of a military threat from the North Atlantic alliance in the 1920s. XXI century, not an illusion, and not possible theorizing, as it seemed to many, back in the 90s. XX century, but the harsh reality of modern international relations. For many analysts in Russia and not only, NATO’s