The Legend of Breach of Promise
Russia, the West, and the NATO Enlargement to the East
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
The annexation of the Crimea and Russia’s war against Ukraine have sparked a debate over whether the West bears a share of responsibility for the military escalation. One position claims that Russia’s elite feels threatened by the eastern enlargement of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. The West, it is said, broke a promise made during the “2 + 4” negotiations that it would not expand NATO to the east. This interpretation is void of any basis in fact: there was no such promise.
(Osteuropa 3/2015, pp. 95–108)