NATO-Russia relations post WWII- a story of broken promises?

U.S. Secretary of State James Baker’s famous “not one inch eastward” assurance about NATO expansion in his meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on February 9, 1990, was part of a cascade of assurances about Soviet security given by former "Warsaw Pact" member leaders to Gorbachev and other Soviet officials throughout the process of German unification in 1990 and on into 1991, according to declassified U.S., Soviet, German, British and French documents posted today by the National Security Archive at George Washington University

The Warsaw Pact was a collective defense treaty established by the Soviet Union and seven other Soviet satellite states in Central and Eastern Europe:  Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania (Albania withdrew in 1968). Formally known as the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation, and Mutual Assistance, the Warsaw Pact was created on 14 May 1955, immediately after the accession of West Germany to the Alliance. It complemented the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, which was the regional economic organization set up by the Soviet Union in January 1949 for the communist states of Central and Eastern Europe.

The Warsaw Pact embodied what was referred to as the Eastern bloc, while NATO and its member countries represented the Western bloc.

NATO and the Warsaw Pact were ideologically opposed and, over time, built up their own defenses starting an arms race that lasted throughout the Cold War.

Open Skies” Conference in Ottawa on February 13, 1990. Left to right: Eduard Shevardnadze (USSR), James A. Baker (US), Hans-Dietrich Genscher (FRG), Roland Dumas (France), Douglas Hurd (Great Britain), Oskar Fischer (GDR)

Page from Stepanov-Mamaladze's notes from February 12, 1990, reflecting Baker's commitment to Shevardnadze during the Ottawa Open Skies conference: "And if United Germany (After the fall of the Wall) stays in NATO, we should take care about non-expansion of its jurisdiction to the east." 

The documents reveal that multiple national leaders were considering and rejecting Central and Eastern European membership in NATO as of early 1990 and through 1991, and that discussions of NATO in the context of German unification negotiations in 1990 were not at all narrowly limited to the status of East German territory, and that subsequent Soviet and Russian complaints about being misled about NATO expansion were founded in written Memorandum of conversations and telephone conversations at the highest levels. 

The documents reinforce former CIA Director Robert Gates’s criticism of “pressing ahead with the expansion of NATO eastward in the 1990s when Gorbachev and others were led to believe that wouldn’t happen.” The key phrase, supported by the documents, is “led to believe.”

Well-briefed by the American secretary of state, the West German chancellor understood a key Soviet bottom line, and assured Gorbachev on February 10, 1990: “We believe that NATO should not expand the sphere of its activity.” After this meeting, Kohl could hardly contain his excitement at Gorbachev’s agreement in principle for German unification and, as part of the Helsinki formula that states choose their own alliances, so Germany could choose NATO. At this point, desperate for freedom, the East Germans had voted overwhelmingly for the Deutschmark and for rapid unification, in the March 18 elections in which Kohl had surprised almost all observers with a real victory.

The Aftermath of the region:

In 2001 Putin makes an offer to the West in the German Bundestag (in fluent German) for a close partnership to overcome the divisions of the past.
All members of the Bundestag applauded enthusiastically...
With Belarus, Ukraine, and the 3 Baltic states there is a buffer between NATO and Russia.

Here’s part of his speech, translated from German:

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen,

We have done a great deal in the security sphere over the past few years. The security system that we have built over the previous decades has been improved. One of the achievements of the past decade is the unprecedentedly low concentration of armed forces and armaments in Central Europe and the Baltic. Russia is a friendly European nation. Stable peace on the continent is a paramount goal for our country, which lived through a century of military catastrophes.

As everyone knows, we have ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Tests Ban Treaty, the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, the Biological Weapons Convention, and also the START-2 Treaty. Regrettably, not all the NATO countries have followed our example.

But once we, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, have started to discuss security, we should first and foremost understand from whom we are to defend ourselves, and how. In this context I cannot but mention the catastrophe in the United States on September 11. People the world over keep asking how that could have happened and who is to blame. I will give you answers to these questions.

I think we all are to blame for what happened, and first and foremost we, politicians, to whom the ordinary citizens of our nations have entrusted their security. And this happens first and foremost because we have so far failed to recognize the changes that have happened in our world over the past ten years and continue to live in the old system of values: we are talking about partnership, but in reality we have not yet learned to trust each other.

In spite of a plethora of sweet words, we are still surreptitiously opposed to each other. Now we demand loyalty to NATO, now argue about the rationale behind its enlargement. And we are still unable to agree on the problems of a missile defence system.

Over long decades of the 20th century the world was indeed living under conditions of confrontation between the two systems, confrontation that pushed humanity to the brink of annihilation on more than one occasion.

That was so fearsome and we grew so accustomed to live with that anticipation of catastrophe that we are still unable to understand and appreciate the changes taking place in today's world. We seem to be missing the fact that the world is no longer divided into two hostile camps.

After this speech, CNN wrote:

“In a TV speech on Monday Putin outlined unprecedented cooperation between Russia and the U.S. against terrorism -- though it stopped short of allowing American forces to launch attacks from Russian air space.

He said that there would be "active co-operation" of Russian, U.S., and international secret services in intelligence gathering and exchange.

Russia is also to open its air space for humanitarian flights. Central Asian republics share Russia's position but are free to decide if their airspace and bases can be used by the U.S. military.

Russian forces will also participate in search and rescue operations in the area where anti-terrorist operations are ongoing.

And Russia will expand its cooperation with the Afghan opposition, including providing military aid.

For Putin, the three-day state visit to Germany has been a chance to work on the "strategic partnership" with Moscow that Europe, and especially Germany, have been eager to promote since the end of the Cold War.”

(that’s hard to believe now, isn’t it?)

By 2004 almost all "Warsaw Pact" members had joined NATO.

Albania joined in 2009, Bulgaria in 2004, Czechoslovakia in 1999, Germany in 1990, Hungary in 1999, Poland in 1999, and Romania joined in 2004.

The Baltic “buffer” states: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania all joined on the same day, 29 March 2004.

But Russia kept its cool.

2005: the US invests 65 million dollars in the campaign of Ukrainian Presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko, whose wife, Kateryna Yushchenko, worked in the White House in the Office of Public Liaison during the administration of Ronald Reagan. Subsequently, she worked at the U.S. Treasury in the executive secretary's office during the administration of George H. W. Bush. After leaving that position, she was on the staff of the Joint Economic Committee of the United States Congress.

In 2014 the West ousted Ukraine's pro-Russian government and installed a pro-US government. Titled, “the orange revolution”, this “mostly peaceful protest” seems to have been a CIA plot to install a Government in the Ukraine that would be financially useful to corrupt US politicians in the future.

Filmmaker Oliver Stone’s words at the time:

“Interviewed Viktor Yanukovych 4 hours in Moscow for new English language documentary produced by Ukrainians. He was the legitimate President of Ukraine until he suddenly wasn’t on February 22 of this year. Details to follow in the documentary, but it seems clear that the so-called ‘shooters’ who killed 14 police men, wounded some 85, and killed 45 protesting civilians, were outside third party agitators. Many witnesses, including Yanukovych and police officials, believe these foreign elements were introduced by pro-Western factions-- with CIA fingerprints on it.

Remember the Chavez ‘regime change’/coup of 2002 when he was temporarily ousted after pro and anti-Chavez demonstrators were fired upon by mysterious shooters in office buildings. Also resembles similar technique early this year in Venezuela when Maduro’s legally elected Government was almost toppled by violence aimed at anti-Maduro protestors. Create enough chaos, as the CIA did in Iran ‘53, Chile ‘73, and countless other coups, and the legitimate Government can be toppled. It’s America’s soft power technique called ‘Regime Change 101.’

In this case the “Maidan Massacre” was featured in Western media as the result of an unstable, brutal pro-Russian Yanukovych Government. You may recall Yanukovych went along with the February 21 deal with opposition parties and 3 EU foreign minsters to get rid of him by calling for early elections. The next day that deal was meaningless when well-armed, neo-Nazi radicals forced Yanukovych to flee the country with repeated assassination attempts. By the next day, a new pro-Western government was established and immediately recognized by the US (as in the Chavez 2002 coup).

A dirty story through and through, but in the tragic aftermath of this coup, the West has maintained the dominant narrative of “Russia in Crimea” whereas the true narrative is “USA in Ukraine.” The truth is not being aired in the West. It’s a surreal perversion of history that’s going on once again, as in Bush pre-Iraq ‘WMD’ campaign. But I believe the truth will finally come out in the West, I hope, in time to stop further insanity.”

At the same time, the USA, led by Hunter Biden (the son of the aged and semi-senile American President "Joe Biden"), Monsanto, Black Water, and US military advisers are beginning to infiltrate and hold out the prospect of NATO membership.
At the same time, Hunter Biden is entering the Ukrainian gas business.
The second violation of the buffer zone took place.

In 2020 Belarus' president, Alexander Lukashenko, said Friday that Belarusian authorities have uncovered "terrorist sleeper cells," which he claimed were planning to overthrow his government.

The head of state stated that Germany, Ukraine, the United States, Poland and Lithuania were involved. Lukashenko said Western-backed saboteurs were planning to blow up a Russian naval communications facility in Vileyka, 100 kilometers (60 miles) northwest of the Belarusian capital, Minsk. This was another attack on the buffer zone between NATO and Russian territories.

2022: Putin ultimately demanded one last time a guarantee that Ukraine will not become a member of NATO and that Donetsk and Lugansk will be allowed to largely self-govern on Ukraine's territory.
These demands were rejected by the Biden cabinet.
After that, the Russians invades Ukraine.
In order to end the war, Putin demanded
- a guarantee of neutrality and
- a demilitarization of Ukraine
- recognition of Donetsk and Lugansk as people's republics
- recognition of Crimea as a Russian Territory and
- a denazification of Ukraine
This was opposed by the US.

How did we get here? This is how. Now the United States continues to send weapons and resources by the billions in support of the War in Ukraine. The United States Government has been meddling in the area from the beginning, there is no way to deny that.

-TamiCam