Russian Foreign Minister admits NATO makes no legal promises to Russia
Photo: Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (Getty Images)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov admitted that NATO had never given Russia any legal promises regarding the alliance's eastward expansion, the Russian news agency RIA Novosti reports.
Speaking at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, Lavrov stated that neither the USSR nor Russia at the time made an effort to secure in documents any promises from NATO not to expand eastward, because, according to him, there was a tradition in Russian history of making verbal agreements and trusting people's word.
Lavrov emphasized that after the collapse of the USSR and Warsaw Treaty Organization, NATO should have been dissolved. He also mentioned that there had allegedly been verbal promises made both to Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin, referring to respective memoirs.
"Some ask: why didn't you insist on written guarantees when (US Secretary of State - ed.) James Baker said that NATO would not move an inch eastward? I've only recently come to this thought: in Russian history since the 17th-18th centuries, when trade flourished, no one signed any contracts. They exchanged handshakes, said 'honest word,' and never broke it," Russia's Foreign Minister stated.
At the same time, Lavrov emphasized that those who were at the helm of NATO in those days knew nothing of this tradition.
"They had no relatives in the former empire from the time of the tsars, and they didn't inherit this kind of tradition. NATO not only remained, but it was also announced recently that it would become the sole organization guaranteeing Europe's security," Russia's Foreign Minister noted.
Earlier today, Lavrov stated that only US President Donald Trump had recognized Ukraine's aspiration to join NATO as a mistake.
