Mikhail Gorbachev
Croatian journalist Antun Rocha spoke about the mistake of the first and only president of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev, when he signed a decree on the settlement of Germany and the withdrawal of Soviet troops from there, which allowed the FRG and the GDR to be united. He published his article in Advance.
In particular, we are talking about the fact that at the conclusion of the treaty between Germany and the victor countries of World War II, the United States gave a verbal promise not to expand NATO to the east. In addition, the GDR pledged not to deploy a foreign military contingent on its territory, as well as not to possess nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.
However, this promise was not legally fixed, but remained only “in words”. And already three years after the conclusion of the treaty, in 1993, the United States decided to expand NATO eastward. The representative of Washington, Robert Zoellik, who later participated in the negotiations, said that there was a misunderstanding and that the United States did not make any promises.
“The 'spirit' of assurances has been violated, but at one time Gorbachev should have thought that one day the 'spirit' would not be enough, but the document would undoubtedly help,” wrote the Croatian journalist. According to Roche, at that time Gorbachev did not think about the possible collapse of the USSR, which included the Baltic countries – current NATO members.
The consequences of Gorbachev's decision, Rocha believes, affect relations between Russia and the West to this day. According to the journalist, if Ukraine or Georgia joins the alliance, international tension may escalate into a deep crisis. And in this case, the United States will again disown the promises made once.
Earlier, Gorbachev named those responsible for the disruption of perestroika and the collapse of the Soviet Union. According to him, perestroika failed because of the actions of members of the State Committee for the State of Emergency (GKChP), as well as those who took advantage of the events of the August 1991 putsch to collapse the USSR.
