In 1991, German Chancellor Helmut Kohl wanted to prevent NATO's eastward expansion and Ukrainian independence, according to recently published documents from the German Foreign Office archive. Was he trying to appease Moscow?

Usually, when the Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History releases another volume of “Documents on the Foreign Policy of the Federal Republic of Germany”, only experts pay serious attention. We are generally talking about thick volumes filled with Foreign Ministry documents, which rarely promise a great read.

However, this time (in 2022) the interest promises to be significant. The new volume containing documents from 1991 includes notes, minutes and letters in which we read previously unknown details about NATO's eastward expansion, the collapse of the Soviet Union and Ukrainian independence. It already seems that these documents could fuel very, very long-lasting debates about Germany's policy towards the Soviet Union and Russia for years to come, right up to the present day.