NYT: Moscow demands NATO return to its pre-1997 positions and withdraw troops from Poland and the Baltic states

In talks to end the war in Ukraine, Russia has renewed its longstanding demands of NATO. Moscow wants the alliance to withdraw its forces from its eastern flank, including Poland and the Baltic states.

The New York Times, citing a document obtained from Russian officials, reported that during this week’s negotiations in Abu Dhabi, Russia repeated demands it had made about two months before invading Ukraine in early 2022.

One of its main demands is that NATO troops withdraw from positions they have occupied since 1997, before the alliance expanded toward Russia’s borders. This puts European security at the center of the negotiations and shows that the Kremlin wants its broader concerns about NATO and Ukraine addressed before any agreement to halt the fighting.

Dated November 10, the document sets out Russia’s initial negotiating position in greater detail. However, two participants in the talks told the newspaper that Moscow’s representatives in Abu Dhabi had suggested President Vladimir Putin might still be willing to make some concessions.

Russian officials also cited the Cold War and the Warsaw Pact as possible models for Europe’s order after the war in Ukraine ends. They said the division of Europe into spheres of influence between the United States and the Soviet Union, together with the communication channels and agreements of that era, had helped reduce the risk of direct confrontation.

American representatives, for their part, urged the Russians not to return to models from the past but to seek forward-looking solutions.

The document also shows that the economic offers and incentives presented to Vladimir Putin by Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, envoys of U.S. President Donald Trump, have so far produced no concrete concessions from Moscow.

Russia’s insistence on including NATO expansion in the negotiations signals that the Kremlin’s aims extend beyond Ukrainian territory to reshaping Europe’s security architecture.