MOSCOW — This November will mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. But the end of confrontation in Europe may be proving only temporary. One year after last summer's war in Georgia, old divisions seem to be re-emerging in a different form. Although the Cold War in Europe was declared over, the truth is, it never really finished.
When the Soviet Union withdrew from Central and Eastern Europe, we Russians believed that NATO would not be extended to the countries and territories from which we had withdrawn. Our hope was for unification with Europe, a "common European home," and the creation of a Europe "united and free."
Our hopes were not starry-eyed self-deception. After all, U.S. and German leaders had promised Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev that NATO would not expand eastward.