air traffic, fighting maritime piracy as well as drug production and trafficking, training Afghan security forces, destroying excess ammunition, preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, undertaking conventional disarmament and transforming defence sectors. Consultations were also held concerning international crises, from the Balkans through Northern Africa and the Caucasus to Afghanistan, as was collaboration in air-defence systems. The first serious crisis in NATO-Russia relations in this period came in August 2008 during the Russia-Georgia war. As a result, the Alliance suspended NRC meetings until March 2009. A more negative event, however, was Moscow’s annexation of Crimea. In April 2014, the Alliance condemned this move and the accompanying Russian intervention in eastern Ukraine, considering that it violated Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and was a breach of international law principles and Russia’s obligations under the “Founding Act.” In consequence, all practical civilian and military cooperation with Russia was stopped (although diplomatic communication channels were preserved). This state of affairs lasts to this day, with subsequent Russian actions not affording much room for hoping that it might change soon. In its strategic documents, Russia considers NATO as an enemy, and the numerous military provocations (exercises with scenarios depicting aggression on member states and their partners, and dangerous naval and air manoeuvres) only serve to strengthen the feeling of endangerment. These changes are stressed in Russian strategic documents.240 In reply, NATO has been augmenting forces on the Eastern Flank, perceiving that Russia has shed the guise of a constructive partner of the West and chosen to engage in unpredictable behaviours calculated according to its own particular costs and benefits. This seems to preclude returning to the former means of cooperation. The new starting point in this respect depends largely on how Moscow will behave. 240 Namely, Military Doctrine of 2014, National Security Strategy of 2015, and the Concept of Foreign Policy of 2016. For texts, see: R. Kupiecki, M. Menkiszak (eds), Stosunki NATO – Federacja Rosyjska w świetle dokumentów, Warszawa, 2018, pp. 492–500 and 551–556.
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