In a recent exchange with the media, a representative of the Russian embassy in Belgium presented Moscow's tough stance on European security issues. Accordingly, the Russian side not only requested a binding legal document but also demanded that NATO cancel the controversial decisions made at the Bucharest summit in 2008.
Explaining this move, the Russian diplomatic agency said that Moscow wants all agreements to be officialized on black and white paper.
We will resolutely request the textification of relevant agreements, including reversing the decisions of the Bucharest summit. Reality has proven that all previous verbal promises by NATO members not to expand the bloc have been forgotten or ignored whenever they find it convenient," the embassy representative emphasized.
Notably, the Russian side affirmed that documentary evidence of "not expanding" commitments is actually still in the archives of NATO countries. However, these countries are said to be deliberately hiding and not disclosing it to the public.
Moscow has long opposed the eastern advance of this military alliance, saying that this is the main reason for increasing tensions in Europe.
According to military analysis from Russia, the admission of new members to NATO will help the alliance significantly shorten the time to deploy strategic forces close to the Russian border. This forces the Russian military to reduce the time to switch to combat readiness in response, putting great pressure on the regional security situation.
Recalling history, in 2008, the then Permanent Representative of Russia to NATO, Mr. Dmitry Rogozin, strongly criticized the decision of the NATO summit. He said that this move "gave the green light", pushing Georgian leaders to military action against South Ossetia in August of the same year.
Also in 2008, in the context of the US pursuing a plan to deploy missile shield components in Poland and the Czech Republic, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev proposed signing the European Security Treaty.
The goal of this treaty is to strengthen the principle of inseparable security, legally binding that no country or organization has the exclusive right to maintain peace in the Euro-Atlantic region. However, this constructive proposal has not received support from Western countries.
In fact, the issue of "covenants" has been mentioned many times by Russia in diplomatic documents. In the report "Russia - NATO: Myths and Truths" published in 2015, the Russian delegation pointed out in detail that NATO's expansion is completely contrary to the commitments of Western leaders in 1990.
Specifically, the German Chancellor and the US Secretary of State at that time promised Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev not to expand NATO in German reunification negotiations.
To prove this, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov revealed in December 2016 that he had directly transferred documents recording these historic negotiations to representatives of NATO member countries, but the situation remained unchanged.
