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With the initiation of the Russia-Ukraine war, Putin presented the causes of the war as follows: 1) NATO expansion, 2) special relations between Russia-Ukraine, 3) protection of Russian residents in Donbas and denazification. Focusing on the first NATO expansion factor, this article comprehensively examines Putin’s arguments and their validity in the context of international politics, history, and social culture. In addtion, it analyzes the related perceptions of Russians and Ukrainians based on various polls. The result of the study reveals that Russia, which had expected to become a member of the European security community after the end of the Cold War, took a sincere attitude toward building constructive relations with NATO, even accepting NATO expansions. Putin
Moon Young Lee (Fri,) studied this question.