Archive finding confirms view of Russians on NATO eastward expansion
Published 18.02.2022
"We have made it clear that we will not extend NATO beyond the Elbe," German diplomat Juergen Chrobog wrote of a March 1991 meeting of the United States, Britain, France, and Germany. This document confirms the Russian view on eastward expansion.
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A note from the British National Archives that has only now surfaced supports the Russian claim that the West violated pledges made in 1990 with NATO's eastward expansion. This is reported by "Der Spiegel."
U.S. political scientist Joshua Shifrinson found the formerly classified document. It deals with a March 6, 1991, meeting in Bonn of the political directors of the foreign ministries of the U.S., Britain, France and Germany. The topic was the security of Poland and other Eastern European states. A Political Director heads the Political Division in the State Department and is considered the closest advisor to the Secretary of State.
Bonn's representative, Jürgen Chrobog, stated at the time, according to the memo, "We made it clear in the Two Plus Four negotiations that we would not extend NATO beyond the Elbe. We therefore cannot offer NATO membership to Poland and the others."
The British, French and Americans also rejected NATO membership for the Eastern Europeans. U.S. Representative Raymond Seitz said, "We have made it clear to the Soviet Union - at Two Plus Four as well as other talks - that we will take no advantage of Soviet troop withdrawals from Eastern Europe." Two years later, the Americans corrected their policy.
https://www.welt.de/politik/ausland/article236986765/Nato-Osterweiterung-Archivfund-bestaetigt-Sicht-der-Russen.html
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)