Pushing the same Putin line that James Baker, in conversation and no where else, promised Gorbachev that with a reunited Germany the U.S./NATO would not move “one inch east”.Gorby himself has said that conversation was in relation to U.S. & NATO forces in Germany. Remember at the time Poland was still a Soviet/Warsaw pact state, and Poland shared borders with Eastern Germany. The Gorby-Baker discussion was not about the future of former Soviet states of Eastern Europe and what decisions of those state, regarding their own security concerns, that the U.S. and NATO would prevent them from making.
Thank you for your comment. This is why I posted the link.
Your point of clarification has merit and helps me to understand it better.