NATO is one of the supporting structures in the building of a unifying Europe. The European Union provides the economic side of the union. Council of Europe - respect for human rights. NATO guarantees security. Europeans, especially residents of small states, perceive the bloc as a guarantee of their security from all misfortunes, so NATO will not disappear anywhere. Meanwhile, the Russian military-political leadership does not realize the real role of NATO in the life of the European continent. The United States and Western European states have tried to delay the moment when NATO will have to expand. Now it’s hard to believe, but at that time relations with Russia were more important for them than relations with Eastern European states, which were then very disappointed: their applications for joining the North Atlantic bloc were postponed. They had to learn all the pangs of jealousy and offended national dignity. It is customary to say that NATO is expanding. But the truth of life was that these Eastern Eur