The claim that NATO countries are right on Russia’s border threatening Russia, just like Russia threatened the United States during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, sounds believable at first. After looking into it, the comparison doesn’t really hold up too well, in 1962, the Soviet Union placed nuclear missiles in Cuba, which was only about 90 miles from the United States. This created an immediate threat and was one of the most dangerous moments of the entire Cold War. NATO today is different because its a defensive alliance, and countries choose to join on their own. There also isnt the same kind of nuclear missile buildup that happened in Cuba, which makes the situations incredibly different.
There is truth to the claim, since a few NATO countries do border Russia. Russia has also said it is concerned about NATO expanding closer to its borders. However, most of Russia’s borders are still with countries that are not in NATO, and joining is voluntary. These details make the comparison to the Cuban Missile Crisis a bit of a stretch. Overall, the claim is mostly misleading because it leaves out important differences between the two situations and makes them seem more similar than they actually are.
https://www.nato.int/en/about-us/organisation/founding-treaty
https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/official_texts_25468.ht
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-11865112
