In 1990, while negotiating
German reunification at the end of the Cold War with
United States Secretary of State James Baker, Soviet president
Mikhail Gorbachev said that "You say that NATO is not directed against us, that it is simply a security structure that is adapting to new realities ... therefore, we propose to join NATO." However, Baker dismissed the possibility as a "dream".
[120]
During a series of interviews with filmmaker
Oliver Stone, President Vladimir Putin told him that he floated the possibility of Russia joining NATO to
Bill Clinton when he visited Moscow in 2000. Putin stated: "During the meeting I said, 'Let's consider an option that Russia might join NATO. Mr. Clinton said 'Why not?' But the U.S. delegation got very nervous."
[4][118] According to former Secretary General of NATO
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, in the early days of
his presidency around 2000–2001, Putin made many statements that indicated he was very favorable to the idea of Russia joining NATO. When Rasmussen first met President Putin in 2002, the Russian leader seemed to him as very "pro-Western."
[119]