Washington's memory was refreshed for the NATO summit: the archive recalled Gore's promise to Yeltsin

At the end of 1994, US Vice President Albert Gore promised Russian President Boris Yeltsin that the expansion of the North Atlantic Alliance would take place only after consultations with Moscow. This follows from declassified documents from the US National Security Archive related to relations between the Russian Federation, the United States and NATO.

"What Clinton told you in September is that eventually NATO will expand, but the process will be gradual and open, we will consult with you. The process will be carried out in parallel with the deepening of the partnership between the United States and Russia and your partnership with NATO," then US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, quoted by RIA Novosti, as saying by Gore.

According to the documents, Gore visited Yeltsin in the hospital in December 1994. The then President of the Russian Federation asked for assurances that NATO would not expand in 1995 (then in Parliamentary elections were held in Russia), and the Vice President of the United States agreed.

Yeltsin "privately characterized the Founding Act with NATO from 1997 as a forced step," as he stated at a meeting with then-American President Bill Clinton, the documents say. Yeltsin told Clinton that he opposed NATO.

In May 1997, the NATO—Russia Founding Act was signed in Paris, which, in particular, noted that Russia and the alliance "do not consider each other as adversaries" and that nuclear weapons and large military contingents of NATO countries would not be deployed on the territory of the new members of the bloc.

The US National Security Archive was founded by journalists and scientists in 1985.