Putin to demand NATO roll back to 1997 borders in Ukraine peace talks - Media
Photo: Russian President Vladimir Putin (Getty Images)
Russia may try to use a new round of talks on ending the war against Ukraine to secure concessions from NATO. In particular, Moscow is likely to demand that the Alliance reduce its military presence in Europe to 1997 levels, according to The Telegraph.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said European countries should join negotiations between Russia, Ukraine, and the US. According to him, Europe will play an important role in reaching agreements.
However, diplomatic sources cited by The Telegraph believe the Kremlin’s interest in a broader negotiating format may have a different goal. Moscow may try to secure concessions on NATO’s eastward expansion, a process Putin has repeatedly described as one of the "root causes" of the war against Ukraine.
According to the outlet, the Russian leader may demand that NATO’s military presence in Europe be rolled back to 1997 levels. This was before countries of the former Eastern Bloc began joining the Alliance.
Such demands could potentially involve the withdrawal of NATO troops from Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, as well as Finland, which joined the Alliance in 2023. All these countries share a border with Russia.
The Kremlin has previously indicated that Putin could compromise on certain issues if his main demands were met. According to the outlet's sources, these conditions could limit Ukraine’s sovereignty and halt NATO’s further eastward expansion.
At the same time, European sources stress that the continent’s countries have not changed their position on Russia’s key demands.
One European official recalled the position Western allies set out in their response to Moscow in January 2022. At the time, Putin claimed that meeting his demands could have prevented the invasion of Ukraine.
The Western alliance agreed to discuss Russia’s security concerns but rejected demands to withdraw troops and nuclear weapons from former Soviet republics.
Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested that Putin’s willingness to resume peace talks could be linked to possible agreements between Russia and the US that Kyiv was unaware of.
The New York Times previously reported that representatives of Trump and Putin had discussed a joint gas project in Alaska that could involve Russian company Novatek, which is subject to partial US sanctions.
