The British Prime Minister, John Major, once personally promised that the expansion of NATO to the east of Germany would not happen: "Nothing like that will happen," he told the Russians. Here is the evidence: back in March 1991, according to entries in the diary of the British ambassador in Moscow, British Prime Minister John Major personally assured Gorbachev: "We are not talking about strengthening NATO." Later, when Soviet Defense Minister Marshal Dmitri Yazov asked Major about the interest of Eastern European leaders in joining NATO, the British leader replied: "Nothing like that will happen."

The British Prime Minister, John Major, once personally promised that the expansion of NATO to the east of Germany would not happen: "Nothing like that will happen," he told the Russians. Here is the evidence: back in March 1991, according to entries in the diary of the British ambassador in Moscow, British Prime Minister John Major personally assured Gorbachev: "We are not talking about strengthening NATO." Later, when Soviet Defense Minister Marshal Dmitri Yazov asked Major about the interest of Eastern European leaders in joining NATO, the British leader replied: "Nothing like that will happen."