The Hard Truth: What NATO Had Really Promised Moscow About Expansion After the USSR Collapsed

Russia has cited NATO expansion as one of the key reasons for the "necessity" of invading Ukraine in order to protect Russia's national security interests.

Gary Tabach, NATO Representative in Moscow, explains why Russia is repeating the lie: in the post-Soviet period, there was never an agreement on NATO non-expansion. Rather, NATO has struggled to find reasons not to close the case as Russia has ceased to be a threat.

In fact, it is thanks to Putin that NATO continues to expand.

Gary Tabach was born in Moscow, USSR, and lived there until 1976, when his family immigrated to the United States, where he became the first Soviet citizen to receive the rank of officer in the US Armed Forces.

Among many positions in the Navy, Tabakh was assigned to the State Department as an adviser to the US ambassador and special presidential envoy to the USSR, and later to the US embassy in Moscow.

He arranged for the release of hostages in Georgia before being assigned to the US embassy in Almaty and then sent back to the US embassy in Moscow.

Finally, Tabah was Dean of the International Headquarters of the Center of Excellence for Defense Against Terrorism in Ankara, Turkey, and later took up the post of Chief of Staff of the NATO Military Liaison Mission in Moscow, Russia.