The ongoing crisis on the Russian-Ukrainian border has brought new attention to how Washington and Moscow navigated the end of the Cold War thirty years ago. Today, Russian officials justify aggression against Ukraine by claiming that NATO had reneged on an assurance President Bush had provided to Gorbachev that NATO would not expand eastward.

Wilson Center President and CEO, Ambassador Mark Green hosted a discussion with the Honorable Robert Zoellick, who was a direct participant in these talks, to explore what was and was not promised in 1991, and the consequences of any attempt to revisit the post-Cold War settlement.