Clinton promised Yeltsin gradual NATO growth while planning rapid 1996 expansion
By Theo Marchetti ·
Boris Yeltsin was promised gradual NATO expansion while Bill Clinton privately ordered a rapid push after 1996, overriding Defense Secretary William Perry's caution.
A catalogue entry from the National Security Archive describes a letter sent on December 24, 1994, from President Bill Clinton to Boris Yeltsin. The timing was precise—Christmas Eve—and the tone was carefully curated. According to the file's description, the letter was intended to signal a easing of tensions following a visit to Russia by Vice President Al Gore.
In the text of the letter, Clinton reiterated a "strong commitment both to the U.S.-Russia partnership and to the goal of a stable, integrated and undivided Europe." For a man who spent decades watching the Soviets play the long game, the language is familiar. It is the language of reassurance designed to keep a counterpart quiet while the board is reset.
Gradually and Openly
The central promise of the letter, as recorded in the archive's description, concerned the movement of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Clinton restated a commitment made in September that "the future development of NATO will proceed gradually and openly."
By using these specific qualifiers, the administration sought to close what the record calls a "rift" between Washington and Moscow. The goal was to clear the brush for "substantive discussions" regarding European security, which the letter identifies as the "most important and sensitive question" facing the two nations.
To Yeltsin, the letter offered a steady diet of "partnership" and praise for the achievements of the relationship thus far. It provided the diplomatic cover necessary to maintain a working rapport with the Kremlin, while avoiding any candid or specific commitments regarding the actual map of NATO expansion.
Document imagery from nsarchive.gwu.edu From the files: nsarchive.gwu.edu
December 21 Debriefing
The record notes a sharp discrepancy between the warmth of the Christmas letter and the internal reality of the administration. Just three days before the letter reached Yeltsin, Defense Secretary William Perry attended a debriefing session with Vice President Gore on December 21.
During that session, Perry learned that the president was not actually committed to the gradualist approach he was advertising to the Russians. Instead, the catalogue entry states that Clinton was committed to a "rapid expansion of NATO right after 1996."
This internal directive stood in direct opposition to the preference of the Defense Secretary. Perry had advocated for a slower route via the Partnership for Peace, a program designed to integrate former Eastern Bloc nations without the immediate provocation of full membership. The gap between Perry’s preferred strategic patience and the president’s timeline created a duality in American policy: a slow-walked public narrative and a fast-tracked private objective.
Western Support
Beyond the NATO dispute, the letter touched on the economic instability of the post-Soviet state. Clinton pledged that he would "continue to take the lead to ensure that a strong Russian economic program is accompanied by large-scale Western support."
This blend of economic carrots and strategic ambiguity was the hallmark of the era's diplomacy. The public record indicates that Bill Clinton, a lawyer and former governor of Arkansas, viewed the transition of Russia as a primary pillar of his foreign policy. While the State Department's FRUS volumes on U.S.-Russian relations (1993–2000) detail the broader diplomatic effort, this specific archival entry highlights the friction between the military's caution and the executive's ambition.
Secretary Perry’s preference for the Partnership for Peace was a matter of risk management. Rapid expansion risked alienating a nuclear-armed Russia during its most volatile period of internal transition. The president, however, appears to have been operating on a different clock.
Related files in the US National Archives, including the "Bill Files" (NAID 26420958) and Presidential Appointment Files, likely contain the internal memos that shaped this timeline, though they are not part of this specific record. The catalogue entry leaves the reader with the image of a president sending a letter of partnership on December 24, knowing full well that the promises of a "gradual" expansion had been superseded by a private mandate for speed.