Fact check: People forget. Part of the reason Soviet Union dropped Berlin Wall and ended was because USA promised not to expand NATO. We broke that promise many times since. Ukraine was a bridge too far

1. Summary of the results

The claim about NATO expansion promises is more complex than the original statement suggests. While Western leaders, including James Baker and George H.W. Bush, did make verbal assurances to Soviet leaders about NATO not expanding "one inch eastward" during the 1990 German reunification negotiations ^[1], there was never a formal, legally binding agreement prohibiting NATO expansion ^[2]. The discussions primarily focused on East Germany's status, not Eastern Europe broadly ^[3].

2. Missing context/alternative viewpoints

Several crucial pieces of context are missing from the original statement:

• The verbal assurances were made specifically during German reunification talks, not as a broad promise about NATO's future ^[3]
• NATO's open-door policy has existed since 1949, long before these discussions ^[2]
• Even scholars who acknowledge Western assurances were made consider the "broken promise" narrative to be "misleading" ^[2]
• Soviet and Russian leaders themselves have been inconsistent in claiming the existence of such promises ^[3]

3. Potential misinformation/bias in the original statement

The original statement contains several problematic elements:

• It oversimplifies the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union's collapse by attributing it primarily to NATO promises, ignoring numerous other significant factors
• It presents informal diplomatic discussions as formal agreements, when multiple experts and diplomats involved in the original negotiations confirm no binding commitment was ever made ^[2]
• The statement serves a specific narrative that benefits current Russian political interests by portraying Russia as a victim of Western deception

The academic community remains divided on this issue ^[3], with some scholars acknowledging that while Putin's actions cannot be justified, the informal promises and their subsequent breach did contribute to current tensions between Russia and the West ^[4]. However, characterizing these complex diplomatic interactions as a simple "broken promise" significantly distorts the historical record.