>>>You are correct as they are legally not members of the UN<<<
Russia is a member of the UN. It is even one of Perm Five members of the UN Security Council, the only powerful body of that organization.
>>>Russia joined the Partnership for Peace program<<<<
The old Partnership for Peace program was a polite fiction concocted to lull the Russians when they (mostly) peacefully allowed former members of the old Soviet bloc to declare independence and go their own ways, only to become NATO members in time.
When the USSR fell, the Russian people were eager to join the West. Too bad for them that Russia is too big to join the EU (polite name for the German Empire), and not wanted in NATO. So they were left out in the cold.
The only hope for Ukraine, which is not a real country, but rather a cobbled-together chunk of map, was to remain a neutral buffer state. Despite its many faults and rampant corruption, this it managed to more-or-less do until we decided to instigate a fake color revolution culminating in an armed putsch ousting the democratically-elected head of state. Civil war naturally ensued, and all the king’s horses and all the king’s men can’t put Humpty Dumpty back together again.
“...legally not members of the UN...”
Typo. Should have typed in NATO when I was reading an article about the UN while we were discussing NATO. My apologies.
“The old Partnership for Peace program was a polite fiction...”
It very well could have been but it’s parameters were a practical bilateral cooperation between individual Euro-Atlantic partner countries and NATO. It allowed partners to build up an individual relationship with NATO, choosing their own priorities for cooperation and according to what I’ve found is still thriving as there are 20 countries in the program.
And you are correct in making the effort toward NATO gaining in numbers as the program is designed to create a better understanding. It has lead to 14 countries joining NATO from the program. But it does it by weaning them in by their choice and what they want out of it. Cyprus is the only European Union member state that is neither a NATO member state nor a member, at least, of the Partnership For Peace program.
wy69