Comment by JumpCrisscross | Hacker News Reader

Comment by JumpCrisscross | Hacker News Reader

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> it was the United States that broke the promise to not expand NATO after the fall of the Soviet Union

This promise is a myth [1]. At best, it was an informal statement by some guy in the U.S. government [2]. This has been blown out of proportion beyond any semblance to reality by Putin's propaganda.

And if it had happened, it would have been an agreement with the Soviet Union. Which does not exist. Russia, in 1994, formally agreed to "respect...Ukrainian independence and sovereignty in the existing borders" and "refrain from the threat or the use of force against...Ukraine," among other things. It has flagrantly broken these agreements.

[1] https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2014/11/06/did-nato-...

[2] https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057%2Fs41311-020-00224...

> some guy in the U.S. government

With "some guy in the government" being the US secretary of state.

> With "some guy in the government" being the US secretary of state

Maybe. The person to whom Baker supposedly made these comments doesn't remember them. The treaty regarding the reunification of Germany, in the context of which these statements were supposedly made, is devoid of any reference to them, as is any other official or public record.

Citing a blog post by the Brookings Institution is very funny to me. They were one of many think tanks in Washington that built the intellectual groundwork to justify the expansion of NATO in the first place.

> Citing a blog post by the Brookings Institution is very funny to me

There is no shortage of sources on the ambiguity of this alleged promise [1][2]. More critically, there is a total absence of sources from Putin. Because he doesn't have any. Because when nations agree to things, they do so by issuing public declarations and/or signing treaties.

[1] https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/russia-programs/2017...

[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/09/us/politics/russia-ukrain...

Absolutely, also that's Russia who doesn't respect even signed agreements. E.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian%E2%80%93Ukrainian_Frie...

.. signed in 1997, which fixed the principle of strategic partnership, the recognition of the inviolability of existing borders, and respect for territorial integrity and mutual commitment not to use its territory to harm the security of each other.

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