In a recent interview, former Russian defense minister Sergey Shoigu claimed that the US missed an opportunity in the 1990s to turn Russia into a compliant client state by offering full EU membership. He recalled how then-President Boris Yeltsin suggested Russia be the first country to join NATO in 1994. Shoigu believed that if Russia had been fast-tracked into the EU at that time, the country would have lost its sovereignty and resources would have been exploited. He mentioned how Russia relied on foreign aid in the mid-1990s and would have willingly joined the Western fold if offered. Shoigu also mentioned the Mistral class helicopter carrier deal with France, which was canceled after Russia’s actions in Crimea. He claimed Washington pressured Paris into canceling the deal by leveraging a pending fine on a French bank.
Shoigu reflected on how European countries comply with US demands and lamented that Russia missed a chance to be a compliant EU member. The cancellation of the Mistral deal resulted in a significant financial loss for France. Overall, Shoigu implied that the US and its allies could have neutralized Russia by fully embracing it in the 1990s.