A Secret Document on the Non-expansion of NATO to the East

The minutes of the meeting of political directors of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, held in Bonn on March 6, 1991. They discussed security in Central and Eastern Europe.

This now declassified document clearly states the Americans, British, French, and Germans agreed that NATO would not extend beyond the Elbe, and that membership in NATO of Eastern European countries and security guarantees for them are "unacceptable".

The following are excerpts from the document:

My 4 IPTs: Quadripartite Meeting of Political Directors, Bonn, 6 March: Security in Central and Eastern Europe

SUMMARY

1. UK circulates promised paper on security in Central and Eastern Europe. General agreement that membership of NATO and security guarantees unacceptable. Agreement to consider statement by spring NAC indicating NATO's interest in security and stability in Eastern Europe. Thickening of bilateral relations and NATO / East European contacts.

DETAIL

2. Chrobog (Germany) said we needed new ideas on how to provide for the security of Central and East European countries. We had made it clear during the 2+4 negotiations that we would not extend NATO beyond the Elbe (sic). We could not therefore offer membership of NATO to Poland and the others. We might however consider referring to our interest in these countries in future NATO declarations. Further steps could be taken in the CSCE and through bilateral agreements.

3. Weston circulated a British paper on the subject and ran through it. … It would be important in our response not to ostracise the Russians. We could not offer East Europeans membership or associate membership of NATO. Nor could we offer explicit or implicit security guarantees. They could not have a relationship with NATO as a group. Nor would NATO have a peacekeeping role in the region. … .

4. Seitz agreed. … We had made it clear to the Soviet Union, both in the 2+4 and in other exchanges, that we would not take advantage of Soviet withdrawal from Eastern Europe. We must not provide a pretext for hardliners in the Soviet Union to build up anti-Western feeling. NATO should not be extended formally or informally to the East. … .

5. Chrobog said we should also consider bilateral treaties containing non-aggression elements. Such treaties should also be concluded with the Soviet Union. Timsit (France) said she would look at the proposals in the British paper. France was not keen on links between individual Eastern European countries and the alliance as such. … .

Explanations:

1) IPTs most probably to read as IFTs. IFT stands for "immediate following telegram".

2) NAC is the North Atlantic Council – the principal political decision-making body of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The "Spring NAC" could refer to the NATO Foreign Ministers meeting held in Copenhagen on 6–7 June 1991.

3) Jurgen Chrobog (born February 28, 1940) is a German jurist, diplomat, and German Ambassador to the United States from 1995 to 2001 and German State Secretary from 2001 to 2005.

4) "2+4" is the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany (the Two Plus Four Agreement) – an international agreement that allowed the reunification of Germany in the early 1990s. It was negotiated in 1990 between the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic (the eponymous Two), and the Four Powers which had occupied Germany at the end of World War II: the Soviet Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, and France.

5) "sic" is a Latin word from "sic erat scriptum" (literally, "that's how it was written") commonly abbreviated and used to show that the previous spelling is a quotation, not a typesetting error. The assumption that Jurgen Chrobog confused between the Elbe River and the Oder River is groundless. Jurgen Chrobog is a professional diplomat and he did mean the Elbe, because the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany of 1990, in particular the provisions on the non-deployment of foreign (non-German) troops of NATO member countries in the territory of the former German Democratic Republic, in its meaning excludes the expansion of NATO to the East, where the East starts right from the territory of the former German Democratic Republic most of which lays in the basin of the Elbe River; it was on the Elbe that the armies of the USSR and the USA met on April 25, 1945.

6) CSCE is the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe.

7) John Weston (born April 13, 1938) is a retired British diplomat. He was the UK Permanent Representative on the North Atlantic Council (NATO) from 1992 to 1995, and the British Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 1995 to 1998.

8) Raymond G.H. Seitz (born December 8, 1940) is a former career diplomat and U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom.

9) Joelle Timsit (born May 1, 1938) is a French diplomat. On March 12, 1986, she was appointed French Ambassador to the German Democratic Republic (East Germany).

Photos of the document on 2 pages:

NATO commitments not to extend to the East beyond the Elbe

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics fulfilled its obligations and withdrew Soviet troops from East Germany and Eastern Europe. In contrast, NATO extended to the East and even captured the former Soviet republics: the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, and the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic. Thus, the collective West represented by the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany grossly violated its obligations, brazenly deceived the Soviet Union, Russia, and hundreds of peoples living to the east of the former Federal Republic of Germany.

Moreover, having basely deceived the Soviet Union and Russia, the collective West deceived all peace-loving humanity that believed the military bloc period in the history of our planet was left behind forever.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was founded on April 4, 1949 in order to resist the good influence of the Soviet Union and the bright values it carried into the lives of hundreds of peoples, as well as to continue to pursue its aggressive military and economic policy throughout the world. Initially consisting of colonizing or slave-trading countries, as well as hiding behind words about threats to the security of Europe and the rest of the world, NATO was driven by one thing: the thirst for profit and gain – at the expense of peoples and resources of other countries.

Six years later, having never received the goodwill of NATO in the peaceful post-war system, on May 14, 1955, the socialist countries created the Warsaw Pact Organization. On July 1, 1991, having obtained all possible assurances from the collective West about the peaceful nature of NATO and the non-expansion of NATO to the East, the socialist countries dissolved the Warsaw Pact Organization. Peace-loving humanity believed that NATO would follow this good example and also dissolve itself, but it was not the case.

After that, NATO made to join it 16 countries lying to the east of the former Federal Republic of Germany. Currently, a significant part of the 32 NATO member states fuel the Ukrainian conflict causing casualties among people happened to be in Russia's special military operation zone and beyond. These states believe they strengthen peace by massive supply of weapons, intelligence, satellite Internet, and mercenaries to the zone of the special military operation.

Shame and damnation on the warmongers!