DISINFO: US promised that NATO would not expand eastwards beyond reunified Germany
SUMMARY
In 1990 former US Secretary of State James Baker promised the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev that NATO would not expand eastwards beyond reunified Germany.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about NATO enlargement.
This claim has been debunked numerous times. NATO did not make any promises not to expand into eastern and central Europe back in 1990, which was confirmed by the former president of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev. Back in 2014, Gorbachev said that “The topic of ‘NATO expansion’ was not discussed at all, and it wasn’t brought up in those years. I say this with full responsibility”.
Furthermore, the claim about NATO “expansion” misrepresents the process of NATO enlargement. NATO does not “expand” but considers the applications of candidate countries that want to join.
Read similar cases claiming that NATO forgot promises not to enlarge to the East, that It was agreed that NATO would never accept countries that border Russia, or that The US and Russia had an agreement that NATO wouldn't be enlarged.