Russia seeks legally binding NATO non-expansion commitment

Russia has stated that it intends to seek legally binding guarantees from NATO confirming a commitment not to expand eastward, according to comments provided by the Russian Embassy in Belgium to the newspaper Izvestia.

Diplomatic representatives said Moscow is insisting that such understandings be formally documented, including the annulment of decisions adopted at the Bucharest summit.

Russian officials argue that earlier verbal assurances allegedly given by NATO to the Soviet Union during negotiations surrounding the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany were later “forgotten and ignored.”

The diplomats added that documentary evidence supporting those assurances exists in the archives of several key countries, but claim that Western governments have deliberately chosen not to make these materials public.

They also recalled that in December 2021, Russia submitted draft agreements on security guarantees to the United States and its allies, including a proposed bilateral treaty with Washington and a separate agreement with NATO. One of the central provisions in those proposals was a demand for a formal commitment preventing further expansion of the alliance.

By Tamilla Hasanova