Zakharova recalled evidence of Western assurances not to expand NATO to the East

“But what is this going on with our American comrades — they do not understand, sometimes they don’t remember.

Not so long ago, I published a chronology of assurances from Western partners in the non-expansion of NATO to the East.

I repeat for those who have forgotten again, ”Zakharova wrote on Telegram.

The chronology, in particular, provides references to documents relating to the negotiations on the unification of Germany in 1990 and "reflecting the commitment of the West not to push NATO eastward."

“For example, on January 31, 1990, speaking in Tutzing, German Foreign Minister H.-D. Genscher noted that“ changes in Eastern Europe and the unification of Germany should not lead to a violation of the interests of the Soviet Union in the field of security, ”the statement says. ...

It also cites the famous statement of US Secretary of State James Baker "not an inch to the East" regarding the further non-expansion of NATO during his meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev on February 9, 1990.

“There are similar passages in the conversations of that period of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany H.-D. Genscher with the head of the State Department J. Baker, his British counterpart D. Hurd.

This was discussed during the meetings of Mikhail Gorbachev and E. A. Shevardnadze with the American Secretary of State, conversations between V. A. Kryuchkov (Chairman of the KGB of the USSR) with the Assistant to the President of the United States for National Security R. Gates, "Zakharova said in a statement. ...

The representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry also recalled that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, at a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in February 2018, "gave him a selection of some quotes from these documents."

On January 7, during a briefing, Anthony Blinken said that NATO has never promised Russia not to admit new members to the alliance.

During a press conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that NATO was cheating on the issue of not expanding the alliance to the east.

The head of state said that Russia was "cheated, just blatantly deceived."

He also noted that they hastened to forget about the promises made in words at that time, and “a precedent was set”: since 1999, five more “waves” of expansion of the alliance followed, it included 14 new countries, including the republics of the former USSR.