The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) is an intergovernment military alliance between 29 North American and European countries. The organisation implements the North Atlantic Treaty that was signed on April 4, 1949, as a system of collective defence after World War 2. In February 2014, following the Ukranian revolution that ousted Viktor Yanukovych, the Crimean Peninsula was annexed by Russia under the orders of Vladimir Putin.
Within days, unmarked forces with local militias took over the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, as well as occupying several localities in Kherson Oblast on the Arabat Spit, which is geographically a part of Crimea.
The Russian President claimed he had the backing of his people and within days signed a treaty of accession with the self-declared Republic of Crimea, annexing it into the Russian Federation as two federal subjects.
Though Russia had control over the peninsula, sovereignty is disputed as Ukraine and the majority of the international community consider the annexation illegal, as was shown by the United Nations General Assembly adopting a non-binding resolution calling upon states not to recognise changes to the integrity of Ukraine.
The move also infuriated NATO, who strongly condoned it and ordered the creation of a new “spearhead” force of 5,000 troops at bases in Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria, as a spread to former Soviet strongholds seemed possible.
Operation Saber Strike was held in Estonia in 2015 (Image: AMAZON)
Putin caused a stir when he ordered troops into Crimea (Image: GETTY)
But if the prospect of war does
