Russia has provided the United States with a list of demands for an agreement to end the Russian-Ukrainian war and restore relations between Moscow and Washington, Reuters reported on the night of August 13, citing sources.
According to them, representatives of Russia and the United States have discussed these demands in face-to-face and online meetings over the past three weeks. It is unclear what exactly Moscow has put on the list. Sources noted that the conditions in the Kremlin are similar to the demands Russia has previously made to Ukraine, the United States and NATO.
Russia has previously demanded that Ukraine renounce its NATO membership, oppose the deployment of foreign troops in Ukraine and also seek international recognition of Ukraine’s annexed regions: Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporozhye and Kherson. In addition, Russia has opposed NATO’s eastward expansion in recent years.
Russia discussed some of these demands with the administration of 46th US President Joe Biden on the eve of a large-scale invasion of Russian troops into Ukraine. The negotiations, which took place in late 2021-early 2022, were unsuccessful.
As Reuters notes, it is unclear whether Russia is willing to start negotiations with Ukraine before its demands are met.
The Russian embassy in Washington and the White House did not respond to journalists’ requests for comment.
Russian and US representatives have said in recent weeks that the basis for a peace treaty could be the draft agreement that Russian, Ukrainian and US delegations discussed in Istanbul in 2022. Russia then demanded that Ukraine abandon its plans to join NATO and become a permanently nuclear-free country.
