Shevardnadze says multiple times that NATO expansion was never discussed, no matter what angle the journalists used to ask about it.

>> SPIEGEL ONLINE: Was the eastward expansion of NATO ever discussed in the inner circles of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1990?

>> Shevardnadze: The question never came up.

>> SPIEGEL ONLINE: Nevertheless, the eastward expansion happened a few years later. Did you feel, at the time, that the German diplomats deceived you?

>> Shevardnadze: No. When I was the minister of foreign affairs in the Soviet Union, NATO's expansion beyond the German borders never came up for negotiation. To this day I don't see anything terrible in NATO's expansion.

Couldn't be more clear.

There's not a single Soviet representative who has said that yes, we had an agreement, and that it was violated. No paper trail of any kind either (discussion papers, meeting notes, personal diaries). It's a made up story.