Did Nato honour this agreement?

A couple of years before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, The Reagan administration asked Soviet leader Gorbachev to facilitate the reunification of Germany by tearing down the Berlin Wall. Gorbachev was assured by James Baker, Reagan‘s chief of staff and secretary of state under George Bush Snr., that NATO will not move an inch towards Russia if he took down the Berlin Wall. Gorbachev agreed and the Berlin Wall came tumbling down and East and West Germany were re-united. (This information can be found in the US National Defense Archives- declassified minutes of the Baker-Gorbachev discussion)

NATO honoured this agreement for 12 years- 8 years under George Bush Snr and 4 years under Bill Clinton. But in his second term, Bill Clinton and other NATO leaders threw the agreement into the dust bin. In 1996, a decision was taken to enlarge NATO and Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary were admitted into the alliance. This act signaled the inching towards Russia and marked the beginning of the second phase of hostilities between Russia and the West; and the kick-off of the new arms race. Before this time, Russia, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, did not do anything in international politics to anger the US and its NATO allies. After the admission of the former Soviet states into NATO, an angry Boris Yeltsin made a speech where he told the US that Russia was not Haiti, and they cannot treat Russia like they have treated Haiti. He assured the West that Russia will come back.

The enlargement of NATO was followed a few years after by the bombardment of Russian allies without consulting Russia. NATO reigned supreme without any challenge from Russia.

Fast forward to year 2000. Vladimir Putin is elected Russian president. One of the first things he did was apply for Russia to join NATO. His reason was that NATO was created to counter the threat of the Warsaw Pact. But since the Warsaw Pact no longer existed, why not join the rest of Europe to work for a peaceful a