Russian President Vladimir Putin is said to have made renewed demands that NATO countries withdraw their forces from the countries bordering Russia, and stop all military aid to Ukraine.
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Russia’s demands are now being tightened, while Putin continues to build up military forces near the border with Ukraine.
– The concern internally in NATO is great and growing, says a centrally located security source to VG on Friday morning.
According to NATO sources, the withdrawal of NATO forces and a halt in support for Ukraine are some of the demands / proposals that Russia is now making towards the United States and NATO.
They are described in two documents that the Russian Foreign Ministry handed over to the US Deputy Foreign Minister Karen Donfried in meetings in Moscow on Wednesday.
The proposals in the two documents that are now being discussed internally in NATO will go much further than just securing Russia’s interests in relation to Ukraine.
The texts that Putin has sent to NATO and the United States imply that NATO must then reverse 25 years of military integration with the new member states in the east, and that the United States’ presence in Europe will be significantly reduced.
Will have negotiations on Saturday
According to Reuters, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov says Russia is ready to start negotiations immediately, and says that a negotiating team is ready to meet Western counterparts in the Swiss city of Geneva as early as Saturday.
However, many of the demands that Russia is now making have already been rejected by the United States and Western countries.
Wants Russia-NATO treaty
On Friday afternoon, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs published the two documents they have handed over: a draft agreement with NATO which has been handed over to Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, and a proposal for a treaty with the United States.
The documents have been shared and discussed between NATO member countries in Brussels over the past two days.
According to the Russian news agency Ria Novosti, the documents contain Russian proposals that neither the United States nor Russia should deploy nuclear weapons outside the countries’ own borders, and that the countries should withdraw the nuclear weapons that have already been deployed.
Putin also demands that NATO withdraw the 2008 decision that Ukraine and Georgia could eventually become members of the Western Defense Alliance.
– We have received Russia’s latest proposal. We clearly say that any dialogue with Russia must also be about NATO’s concern about Russia’s actions, said Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s Secretary General at a press conference on Friday morning.
– The NATO countries have also made it clear that if Russia takes concrete steps towards reducing tensions, we are ready to work to strengthen confidence-building measures, Stoltenberg added.
–Sends more soldiers
But there should be no sign of any withdrawal from the Russian side at the moment. According to intelligence reports shared internally within NATO, Russia now has more than 100,000 troops available, plus equipment, armored vehicles, drones and other “things needed to launch a military operation against Ukraine,” a source told VG.
On Friday morning, Stoltenberg reiterated that Russia must pay a high price if the country further escalates its aggression against Ukraine.
– We are now making a serious assessment of how the situation right now affects NATO’s security. We will respond to any deterioration, including by strengthening our collective defense, Stoltenberg said after a meeting with Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov in Brussels.
Russia believes, however, that they have not received the response they hoped for in their latest proposals.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the Interfax news agency on Friday morning that the United States and NATO had rejected Russia’s ideas for a new security system in Europe, and that it was not promising.
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