Disinfo: American officials repeatedly promised Gorbachev that NATO would not expand eastward after the reunification of Germany

Summary

At the end of the 1980s, when Mikhail Gorbachev agreed to withdraw Soviet troops from Germany, American officials repeatedly promised Gorbachev that NATO would not expand eastward after the reunification of Germany.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about encircled Russia. Back in 2014, Gorbachev rejected this claim stating that the topic of ‘NATO expansion’ was not discussed at all. NATO Allies take decisions by consensus and these are recorded. There is no record of any decision that NATO would not to expand after the Cold War having been taken by the Alliance. Even if there was a personal assurance from an individual leader, it could not replace Alliance consensus and does not constitute a formal NATO agreement. Former Warsaw Pact countries began seeking NATO membership in the early 1990s. NATO actively sought to create a cooperative environment that was conducive to enlargement while simultaneously building special relations with Russia. NATO does not "expand" in the imperialistic sense described by pro-Kremlin media. Rather, it considers the applications of candidate countries who want to join the alliance based on their own national will. As such, NATO enlargement is not directed against Russia. NATO's "Open Door Policy" is based on Article 10 of the Alliance's founding document, the North Atlantic Treaty (1949). The Treaty states that NATO membership is open to any "European state in a position to further the principles of this Treaty and to contribute to the security of the North Atlantic area". Every sovereign nation has the right to choose its own security arrangements. This is a fundamental principle of European security and one to which Russia has also subscribed. Read here similar cases claiming that the US government promised Mikhail Gorbachev that the Atlantic Alliance would not expand to the East, that NATO forgot all the previously existing agreements and expanded despite promises made to Gorbachev.

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it.sputniknews.com (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 201
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 14/06/2020
  • Outlet language(s) Italian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: US, Russia
  • Keywords: Mikhail Gorbachev, Eastern Europe, USSR, Encircling Russia, EU/NATO enlargement, NATO
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Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative undermining the statehood of Ukraine and its relations with the IMF. In its press release, the IMF emphasised that ensuring macroeconomic stability and coping with COVID-19 pandemic challenges are the key tasks of a new Stand-By Arrangement between the IMF and Ukraine: "The new Stand-By Arrangement will provide an anchor for the authorities’ efforts to address the impact of the crisis, while ensuring macroeconomic stability and safeguarding achievements to date. [...] The program will focus on safeguarding medium-term fiscal sustainability, preserving central bank independence and the flexible exchange rate, and enhancing financial stability while recovering the costs from bank resolutions." According to the IMF, policies under the new arrangement will focus on four priorities: (i) mitigating the economic impact of the crisis, including by supporting households and businesses; (ii) ensuring continued central bank independence and a flexible exchange rate; (iii) safeguarding financial stability while recovering the costs from bank resolutions; and (iv) moving forward with key governance and anti-corruption measures to preserve and deepen recent gains. Read similar disinformation claiming that Ukrainians will remain without land because of the IMF and that IMF has abandoned Ukraine and cuts its support.

Disinfo: Due to Ukrainian provocation, a man died at a checkpoint with the DNR

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Jun 13, 2020
Disproof

Pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the war in Ukraine. The information that Ukraine did not inform the representatives of the so-called "Donetsk National Republic" (DNR) about the opening of two checkpoints does not correspond to reality. The Ukrainian leadership in advance and directly informed the pro-Russian militants of their intention to open two entry and exit points for social and humanitarian purposes from 10 June 2020. The refusal of the militants to let citizens through the checkpoints led to the fact that many Ukrainians living in the occupied territories were forced to spend the night right at the border. On Friday 12 June, the UN Monitoring Mission in Ukraine reported that a 59-year-old man died trying to get to his family on the territory of the Donetsk region not controlled by the government near the exit-entry checkpoint in Maryinka. Since 10 June, a man had been waiting for the opportunity to cross the border with the “DNR”. On the evening of 11 June, he became ill and was taken to hospital by ambulance. He refused hospitalisation and returned to the border - a couple of hours later he died of a heart attack. This is not the only such case. On the same day, 11 June, in the so-called “grey zone”, a woman became ill while she waited, unsuccessfully, to be allowed across the border by representatives of the “DNR” group. The victim could not move, but the militants took no action to provide the woman with first aid - she was evacuated from the grey zone by Ukrainian border guards and representatives of the Red Cross. It is also reported that for more than three days, representatives of the “DNR” have been holding two people in their car in front of their checkpoint, stubbornly preventing them from driving home.

Disinfo: NATO expansion and Euromaidan prove that master-slave logic prevailed within the West

The policy preached by those who made a short-sighted choice of NATO-centricity, geopolitical zero-sum games and a master-slave logic, having assumed the role of ruling the destinies of humankind, prevailed within Western society. Suffice to recall the bombing of Yugoslavia, the eastward expansion of the North-Atlantic Alliance despite the guarantees that had been given to the Soviet leadership, as well as the support by a number of European capitals of an anti-constitutional armed government coup in Ukraine and the subsequent imposition of unilateral sanctions against Russia.

Jun 13, 2020
Disproof

This is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative painting the2013-14 protests in Kyiv as a violentcoup, and a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about NATO and encircled Russia.

NATO does not "expand" in the imperialistic sense described by pro-Kremlin media. Rather, it considers the applications of candidate countries who want to join the alliance based on their own national will. As such, NATO enlargement is not directed against Russia and there is no record of NATO promising Russia it would not expand. Even if there was a personal assurance from an individual leader, it could not replace Alliance consensus and does not constitute a formal NATO agreement. In 2014, Mikhail Gorbachev, last president of the Soviet Union, confirmed: