The "not one inch eastward" assurance had nothing to do with countries joining NATO

The statement of "not one inch eastward" by U.S. Secretary of State James Baker had nothing to do with any kind of deal, promise, or assurance that countries east of Germany would not join NATO. Such a concept wasn't even imagined at the time.

To summarize:

• The meeting occurred on February 9, 1990, 1 year and 10 months before the collapse of the Soviet Union. There was nowhere eastward that a country could have joined NATO. They were not talking about countries east of Germany joining NATO
• The meeting was not about countries joining NATO, it was entirely about the jurisdiction of NATO forces in Germany after reunification. Namely the assurances made by the US government were that while NATO troops could continue to be stationed where they already were in West Germany, after unification the Soviet Union very explicitly considered in unacceptable for those troops to expand into east Germany. Basically, no non-German NATO troops were permitted to move into east Germany. This has not been violated even up to today, even though with the current structure of NATO its doubtful the Russians would even care about NATO troops in east Germany.
• To quote a document referenced in this detailed article:

  Baker reported: “And then I put the following question to him [Gorbachev]. Would you prefer to see a united Germany outside of NATO, independent and with no U.S. forces or would you prefer a unified Germany to be tied to NATO, with assurances that NATO’s jurisdiction would not shift one inch eastward from its present position? He answered that the Soviet leadership was giving real thought to all such options [….] He then added, ‘Certainly any extension of the zone of NATO would be unacceptable.’” Baker added in parentheses, for Kohl’s benefit, “By implication, NATO in its current zone might be acceptable.” (See Document 8)

Also see this page from the handwritten notes of Stepanov-Mamaladze, reflecting Baker's assurance to Shevardnadze during the Ottawa Open Skies conference:

The highlighted part reads:

And if U[nited] G[ermany] stays in NATO, we should take care about non-expansion of its jurisdiction to the east.

The Russian state today uses this "not one inch eastward" statement as a propaganda point to oppose any country that wishes to join NATO, and they do so based on a total fabrication that there was ever such an assurance about countries joining NATO, and they rely on most people not understanding the timeline of events.