Shifrinson Offers Clarity on Post-Cold War NATO-Russia Agreement
Joshua Shifrinson, Associate Professor of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, was interviewed for a PolitiFact article on claims that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is at fault for Russia’s encroachment of Ukraine.
The article, titled “Fact-checking claims that NATO, US broke agreement against alliance expanding eastward,” explores a claim made by conservative commentator Candace Owens insisting that the North NATO, under the direction of the United States, violated previous agreements with Russia by expanding eastward, a statement echoed by Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, NATO has officially noted that no such agreement was made and its doors are always open to new members.
Shifrinson clarifies a comment made in his 2016 Los Angeles Times op-ed that Owens has cited: the U.S. and Western diplomats offered the Soviets verbal assurances that NATO would not enlarge to the east. While he still holds this as true, Shifrinson noted that claiming this as a formal agreement is false. He argues, “there is a legitimate point to say that the U.S. offered assurances to the Soviets that NATO would do something, but that is not the same thing as saying NATO offered an agreement…NATO is not violating, and it never offered an agreement,” and this is not a proper justification for the invasion of Ukraine.
The full article can be read on PolitiFact‘s website.
Joshua R. Itzkowitz Shifrinson is an Associate Professor at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, where his teaching and research interests focus on the intersection of international security and diplomatic history, particularly the rise and fall of great powers and the origins of grand strategy. His work has appeared with International Security, the Journal of Strategic Studies, Foreign Affairs, and other venues. Read more about Professor Shifrinson on his faculty profile.