HL Deb 20 November 1996 vol 575 c137WA
Lord Kennet

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether at any time during the negotiations which led to the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact and to the withdrawal of Soviet troops from East Germany, or to either of those severally:

  1. (a) any British minister; or
  2. (b) anybody acting for NATO; or
  3. (c) to their knowledge, any other member of NATO
gave the Soviet Union to understand, whether formally or informally, that NATO would not be expanded eastwards.

Lord Chesham

No British Minister ever made any formal undertaking to the Soviet Union that NATO would not expand eastwards. We cannot comment on what impression the Soviet Union might have gained from the many informal exchanges which took place at that time, in very different circumstances.

It is not for the UK to comment on what other governments or individuals might have said.