War of the Narratives - The Year 1990 and NATO's Eastern Enlargement

An important point of contention between Russia and the West is the alleged Western “promise” in 1990 not to expand NATO further east. Today, this controversy can largely be answered on the basis of recently declassified archival documents. Western guarantees in February 1990 referred only to the GDR; but the West deceived Gorbachev at the same time with vague promises of an inclusive European security order.