In closed-door talks between Russia and Trump’s envoys, a negotiating document – an unsigned ‘non-paper’ – has reportedly been circulated, in which Russia demands that the NATO bases established in Eastern Europe after 1997 be withdrawn, writes The New York Times.
Such a demand, which Russia had put forward prior to the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, would mean that NATO troops would be withdrawn to the positions the alliance held before its first eastward expansion into Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic following the break-up of the Soviet Union.
Now, in closed-door negotiations with President Trump’s envoys this week about how to end the war in Ukraine, the Russians have revived that stance – in some cases word for word – in an effort to attain a greater victory after five years and hundreds of thousands of deaths.
Moscow’s unyielding position was laid out in a paper that Russian officials circulated this week, according to a copy obtained by The New York Times from a person involved in the talks.
The paper, whose authenticity was confirmed by another person with knowledge of the negotiations, shows that President Vladimir V. Putin has scarcely budged on his core objectives after more than 20 months of diplomacy by the Trump administration to end the conflict.
It is doubtful whether Russia harbours any real hopes of such an outcome, but it is conceivable as a tough negotiating tactic aimed at securing the best possible deal.
Zelenskyy recently claimed that the US is promising Ukrainian NATO membership if the country gives up the Donbas.
These two positions are almost as far apart as it is possible to be, and this makes the negotiations difficult, but both may be elements in a game into which outsiders have little insight.
The New York Times reports:
The document represents Russia’s initial position, and Russian officials in the negotiations signalled that Putin could still be flexible, according to the two people involved in the negotiations, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the sensitive discussions.
However, Russian officials in Abu Dhabi made it clear that they viewed the Cold War, and the Soviet-led alliance then known as the Warsaw Pact, as a model for what Europe might look like once the war in Ukraine is over. In the decades following the Second World War, Europe became the epicentre of the confrontation between the nuclear superpowers, with the threat of war hanging over the continent.
However, the Russians claimed in Abu Dhabi that the separate spheres of influence of the US and the Soviet Union from that era, as well as the communication and understandings that accompanied this arrangement, actually reduced the risk of conflict, according to people who were present during the remarks.
When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Pope Francis commented that this was wrong of Russia, but that NATO had been ‘barking at Russia’s door’. The Pope was far from alone in holding that view in the West.
