North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO, customary NATO, North Atlantic Alliance - a military agreement concluded on August 24, 1949, under the North Atlantic Treaty signed on April 4, 1949. The main goal of NATO's existence at the time of its creation was the military defence against the attack from the USSR and its satellite states, since 1955 organized in the structure of the Warsaw Pact. After the collapse of the USSR and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact (1991), it played a stabilizing role, taking measures to prevent the spread of regional conflicts, and also acted as a guarantor of the external security of the member states.¹⁾.