Baker-Gorbachev Negotiations
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The Baker-Gorbachev negotations between then Secretary of State of the United States, James Baker, and then General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev were informal commitments allegedly reached in February 1990 by these countries, in the context of German reunification, according to which a unified Germany might enter NATO while the alliance would not expand to any other country of the Eastern Bloc.
The existence of these agreements is debated. Gorbachev has at times defended it and at others denied it, and there has been a debate whether the agreement was verbal or written.[1] Declassified memoranda and documents of both Soviet and U.S. origin reflect the existence of these negotiations during 9 February 1990.[2][3] The following day Federal German Chancellor Helmut Kohl joined the negotiations in Moscow.
The agreements were an important step towards the consensus of the two superpowers (the U.S. and the Soviet Union) on German reunification and preceded the subsequent signing of the Two Plus Four Agreement, which paved the way for German unification but which did not address the issue of eastward expansion of NATO. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, NATO gradually expanded to fourteen more countries in the period from 1990 to 2017. The agreements were one of the pretexts used by Vladimir Putin, President of Russia in 2022, demanding a ban on Ukraine joining NATO.
The negotiations[edit]
The fall of the Berlin Wall, German reunification and the collapse of the communist governments of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union during the Revolutions of 1989, brought enormous changes in the countries of the Eastern Bloc -then allies of Russia or part of the Soviet Union- altering the geopolitical balance of alliances and power in Europe.
On February 9, 1990, during the process of German reunification, Secretary of State Baker visited General Secretary Gorbachev and his Minister of foreign affairs Eduard Shevardnadze, followed the next day by the arrival of Chancellor of Federal Germany Helmut Kohl. The goal was to appease the Soviets by including a unified Germany in the Western orbit. Gorbachev went so far as to propose a pan-European security structure, including Russia's entry into NATO. Baker considered this pan-European idea "a dream", and unattainable. Baker and Kohl convinced Gorbachev that a unified Germany would join NATO, which would be better than an independent but militarized Germany, while promising no further expansion of the alliance to the east. Baker assured Gorbachev on February 9, 1990: "We understand the need for assurances to the countries in the East. If we maintain a presence in a Germany that is a part of NATO, there would be no extension of NATO's jurisdiction for forces of NATO one inch to the east". Gorbachev concurred that 'Such an expansion would be “unacceptable”.[4]
Result[edit]
NATO expanded to fourteen Eastern countries: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland in 1999; Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia in 2005; Albania, Croatia in 2009, Montenegro in 2017, and North Macedonia in 2020, some of which border Russia.
The agreements were again the subject of public debate in 2022 on the occasion of the 2021–2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis, during which the Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded compliance with the 1990 agreement to Gorbachev and a ban on Ukraine joining NATO, which both Ukraine and NATO refused. The crisis ultimately led to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ Mary Elise Sarotte (9 September 2014). "A Broken Promise?". Retrieved 28 February 2022.
- ↑ "Memorandum of conversation between Baker, Shevardnadze and Gorvachev". National Security Archive. George Washington University. 9 February 1990. Briefing Book 613. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
- ↑ "Neuer Aktenfund von 1991 stützt russischen Vorwurf (New files from 1991 supports Russian claims)". 18 February 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
- ↑ "Memorandum of conversation between Mikhail Gorbachev and James Baker in Moscow". National Security Archive. George Washington University. 9 February 1990. Briefing Book 613. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
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