Well, you're wrong. They do say that. Here's one link with photgraphic evidence. There are many others.

https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/russia-programs/2017-12-12/nato-expansion-what-gorbachev-heard-western-leaders-early

You're welcome.

The Russians are hardcore capitalists like the Americans. There is no doubt that if you are super wealthy, the most expensive stuff to be found will be in the country that has been the most wealthy longest - the US. That point has fuck all to do with whether NATO promised Russia not to expand to the East.

The non-NATO point has to come from Ukraine. Of course, that also can change with time. Since 2008 Ukraine has been pushed by the US to join, and since the 2014 coup been pushing hard themselves. That pushing, among many other points, lead to the civil war in Ukraine and Russia's entry into that civil war.

This result is just as William Burns, currently US CIA director said in 2008 when he was the US ambassador to Russia.

https://multipolarista.com/2022/02/27/us-nato-expansion-ukraine-russia-intervene/?mc_cid=8b54475b49&mc_eid=075bed7fbf

The US has been provoking this war for a long, long time. That doesn't justify Russia's invasion, but it does make it understandable.