NATO Responds to Putin's Harsh Statements

NATO has never made promises not to expand the alliance, said the organization's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in an interview with the German DPA. This comes as the head of the North Atlantic Alliance commented on Russian President Vladimir Putin's statements during an annual press conference, claiming that in the 1990s, the West "outrightly deceived" the leadership of the Soviet Union by declaring that they did not intend to expand NATO eastward.

“NATO has never promised not to expand. In fact, our organization’s founding document states that any European country can become a member of the alliance. Secondly, there are documents dating back to the 1970s and 1990s, including the Helsinki Final Act, the Paris Charter, and the Russia-NATO founding act, along with many other treaties, that clarify that countries have the right to choose their path,” Stoltenberg stated.

He reminded that these documents define the fundamental principles of European security, which Russia has also signed. “This is not something we can change by words. NATO allies also categorically deny that they ever made such promises. Former President Gorbachev (the first and last president of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev) also stated that the topic of NATO enlargement was never raised until the reunification of Germany,” the Secretary General emphasized.