Uncovered Document Reveals Soviet Union Was Promised No NATO Expansion at End of Cold War

A document from the British National Archives that was resurfaced in a report by the German newspaper Der Spiegel reveals that the Soviet Union was promised NATO wouldn’t expand eastward during negotiations at the end of the Cold War.

The document is the minutes of a meeting between foreign ministry officials from the US, France, Germany, and Britain in Bonn, Germany, on March 6th, 1991. Officials referenced the “two plus four” negotiations that were held with the Soviet Union in 1990 to reunify East and West Germany.

“We made it clear in the two plus four negotiations that we would not expand NATO beyond the Elbe. We can therefore not offer NATO membership to Poland and the others,” German diplomat Jürgen Chrobog said at the 1991 meeting.