Following the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia and NATO eventually came to an understanding regarding the status of the non-Warsaw Pact Eastern Europe, as reflected in the 1997 Founding Act. In this Act, NATO and Russia agreed to create a common space of security and stability in Europe, “without spheres of influence limiting the sovereignty of any state.” The member states of NATO reiterated that they had “no intention, no plan and no reason to deploy nuclear weapons on the territory of new members and do not foresee any future need to do so.”
As well, and most relevant today, NATO and Russia agreed to “strengthen stability by further developing measures to prevent any potentially threatening buildup of conventional forces in agreed regions of Europe, to include Central and Eastern Europe.”
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