Putin talks NATO, gay rights in interviews with Oliver Stone
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin says that early on in his tenure he floated the idea of Russia joining NATO.
In a series of interviews with American film director Oliver Stone, Putin said he inquired about Russia joining the alliance when then-U.S. President Bill Clinton visited Moscow in 2000.
“During the meeting I said: ‘Let’s consider an option that Russia might join NATO,’” Putin recalled. “Clinton said ‘Why not?’ But the U.S. delegation got very nervous.”
Putin had said in an interview several months before Clinton’s June 2000 visit that he wasn’t opposed to Russia joining the alliance, but his comment to Stone was the first public indication of his raising the issue.