Russia has laid out a set of demands to the United States for a potential deal to end its war in Ukraine and reshape relations with Washington, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
It is not clear what exactly Moscow included on its list or whether it is willing to engage in peace talks with Kyiv prior to their acceptance. Russian and American officials discussed the terms during in-person and virtual conversations over the last three weeks, the people said.
They described the Kremlin’s terms as broad and similar to demands it previously has presented to Ukraine, the U.S. and NATO.
No NATO Membership
Those earlier terms included no NATO membership for Kyiv, an agreement not to deploy foreign troops in Ukraine and international recognition of President Vladimir Putin’s claim that Crimea and four provinces belong to Russia.
Russia, in recent years, also has demanded the U.S. and NATO address what it has called the “root causes” of the war, including NATO’s eastward expansion.
U.S. President Donald Trump is awaiting word from Putin on whether he will agree to a 30-day truce that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday he would accept as a first step toward peace talks.
Putin’s commitment to a potential ceasefire agreement is still uncertain, with details yet to be finalised.
Some U.S. officials, lawmakers and experts fear that Putin, a former KGB officer, would use a truce to intensify what they say is an effort to divide the U.S., Ukraine and Europe and undermine any talks.
The Russian embassy in Washington and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
‘Constructive’ Saudi Meeting
In Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailed this week’s meeting in Saudi Arabia between U.S. and Ukrainian officials as constructive, and said a potential 30-day ceasefire with Russia could be used to draft a broader peace deal.
Moscow has raised many of these same demands over the last two decades, some making their way into formal negotiations with the U.S. and Europe.
Most recently, Moscow discussed them with the Biden administration in a series of meetings in late 2021 and early 2022 as tens of thousands of Russian troops sat on Ukraine’s border, awaiting the order to invade.
They included demands that would constrain U.S. and NATO military operations from Eastern Europe to Central Asia.
While rejecting some of the terms, the Biden administration sought to forestall the invasion by engaging with Russia on several of them, according to U.S. government documents reviewed by Reuters and multiple former U.S. officials.
The effort failed and Russia attacked on February 24, 2022.
US-Russia Talks
U.S. and Russian officials in recent weeks have said that a draft agreement discussed by Washington, Kyiv and Moscow in Istanbul in 2022 could be a starting point for peace talks. The agreement never went through.
In those talks, Russia demanded that Ukraine give up its NATO ambitions and accept a permanent nuclear-free status. It also demanded a veto over actions by countries that wanted to assist Ukraine in the event of war.
The Trump administration has not explained how it is approaching its negotiations with Moscow. The two sides are engaged in two separate conversations: one on resetting U.S.-Russia relations and the other on a Ukraine peace agreement.
The administration appears to be divided on how to proceed.
Istanbul Agreement
U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, who is helping lead the discussion with Moscow, last month on CNN described the Istanbul talks as “cogent and substantive negotiations” and said that they could be “a guidepost to get a peace deal done.”
But Trump’s top Ukraine and Russia envoy, retired Gen. Keith Kellogg, told a Council on Foreign Relations audience last week that he did not see the Istanbul agreement as a starting point.
“I think we have to develop something entirely new,” he said.
(With inputs from Reuters)
