EXPLAINER: Ukraine not joining NATO so why does Putin worry?
By ROBERT BURNS
AP National Security Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — At the core of the Ukraine crisis is a puzzle: Why would Russian President Vladimir Putin push Europe to the brink of war to demand the West not do something that it has no intention of doing anyway? Russia says NATO, the alliance that has on its hands the biggest European crisis in decades, must never offer membership to Ukraine. In fact, NATO is not even close to making such an offer. Putin’s demands go beyond the question of Ukraine’s association with NATO, but that link is central to his complaint that the Western alliance is encroaching on Russian security.
