Influence of Russian and Nato Rivalry on Ukrainian National Security during Volodymyr Zelensky's Presidential Term

Abstract

Since before the Cold War and until the fall of the Soviet Union, there have been tense relationsbetween Russia and NATO. Russia, which succeeded the Soviet Union as its heir, inherited a fewprivileges due to its downfall. Russia grew to be the most prominent, prosperous, and richest nationamong the CIS nations, having a significant political impact on Eastern and Central Europe. AsNATO, a security agreement, increases its influence, Russia feels threatened and does not want tocease to exist. The rivalry between the two actors affects neighboring Russia, including Ukraine.Zelensky's decision to speed up the integration process of the NATO security pact provoked Russianoutrage because it was articulated as a challenge, and practically, the actions taken by Zelensky couldnot accelerate his membership in NATO. Russia launched a military invasion of Ukraine that hadimplications for the neighboring country's national security crisis. In analyzing this thesis, the authorsused the concept of rivalry to analyze the relationship between Russia and NATO and the idea ofnational security to analyze the status quo of Ukraine due to Russian-NATO influence. The researchmethod was descriptive, using data from books, journals, and several other references. This studyfound a Ukrainian national security crisis in the Zelensky era due to the influence of Russian andNATO rivalries.