Russia lays out demands for talks with US on Ukraine, sources say

By Erin Banco and Jonathan Landay

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russia has presented the U.S. with a database of demands for a woody to extremity its warfare against Ukraine and reset relations with Washington, according to 2 radical acquainted with the matter.

It is not wide what precisely Moscow included connected its database oregon whether it is consenting to prosecute successful bid talks with Kyiv anterior to their acceptance. Russian and American officials discussed the presumption during in-person and virtual conversations implicit the past 3 weeks, the radical said.

They described the Kremlin's presumption arsenic wide and akin to demands it antecedently has presented to Ukraine, the U.S. and NATO.

Those earlier presumption included nary NATO rank for Kyiv, an statement not to deploy overseas troops successful Ukraine and planetary designation of President Vladimir Putin's assertion that Crimea and 4 provinces beryllium to Russia.

Russia, successful caller years, besides has demanded the U.S. and NATO code what it has called the "root causes" of the war, including NATO's eastward expansion.

U.S. President Donald Trump is awaiting connection from Putin connected whether helium volition hold to a 30-day truce that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said connected Tuesday helium would judge arsenic a archetypal measurement toward bid talks.

Putin's committedness to a imaginable ceasefire statement is inactive uncertain, with details yet to beryllium finalized.

Some U.S. officials, lawmakers and experts fearfulness that Putin, a erstwhile KGB officer, would usage a truce to intensify what they accidental is an effort to disagreement the U.S., Ukraine and Europe and undermine immoderate talks.

The Russian embassy successful Washington and the White House did not instantly respond to a petition for comment.

In Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy hailed this week's gathering successful Saudi Arabia betwixt U.S. and Ukrainian officials arsenic constructive, and said a imaginable 30-day ceasefire with Russia could beryllium utilized to draught a broader bid deal.

Moscow has raised galore of these aforesaid demands implicit the past 2 decades, immoderate making their mode into ceremonial negotiations with the U.S. and Europe.

Most recently, Moscow discussed them with the Biden medication successful a bid of meetings successful precocious 2021 and aboriginal 2022 arsenic tens of thousands of Russian troops sat connected Ukraine’s border, awaiting the bid to invade.

They included demands that would constrain U.S. and NATO subject operations from Eastern Europe to Central Asia.

While rejecting immoderate of the terms, the Biden medication sought to forestall the penetration by engaging with Russia connected respective of them, according to U.S. authorities documents reviewed by Reuters and aggregate erstwhile U.S. officials.

The effort failed and Russia attacked connected February 24, 2022.

U.S. and Russian officials successful caller weeks person said that a draught statement discussed by Washington, Kyiv and Moscow successful Istanbul successful 2022 could beryllium a starting constituent for bid talks. The statement ne'er went through.

In those talks, Russia demanded that Ukraine springiness up its NATO ambitions and judge a imperishable nuclear-free status. It besides demanded a veto implicit actions by countries that wanted to assistance Ukraine successful the lawsuit of war.

The Trump medication has not explained however it is approaching its negotiations with Moscow. The 2 sides are engaged successful 2 abstracted conversations: 1 connected resetting U.S.-Russia relations and the different connected a Ukraine bid agreement.

The medication appears to beryllium divided connected however to proceed.

U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, who is helping pb the treatment with Moscow, past period connected CNN described the Istanbul talks arsenic “cogent and substantive negotiations” and said that they could beryllium “a guidepost to get a bid woody done.”

But Trump's apical Ukraine and Russia envoy, retired Gen. Keith Kellogg, told a Council connected Foreign Relations assemblage past week that helium did not spot the Istanbul statement arsenic a starting point.

“I deliberation we person to make thing wholly new,” helium said.

OLD DEMANDS

Experts accidental Russia's demands apt are not lone intended to signifier an eventual statement with Ukraine, but besides to beryllium the ground of accords with its Western supporters.

Russia has made akin demands of the U.S. implicit the past 2 decades – demands that would bounds the West’s quality to physique a stronger subject beingness successful Europe and perchance let Putin to grow his power successful the continent.

“There’s nary motion that the Russians are consenting to marque immoderate concessions,” said Angela Stent, a elder chap astatine the Brookings Institution who was the apical U.S. quality expert for Russia and Eurasia. “The demands haven’t changed astatine all. I deliberation they are not truly funny successful bid oregon a meaningful ceasefire.”

In their effort to forestall what U.S. quality officials concluded was an imminent Russian invasion, elder Biden medication officials engaged with Russian counterparts connected 3 of the Kremlin's demands, according to the U.S. authorities documents reviewed by Reuters.

They were a prohibition connected subject exercises by U.S. and different NATO forces connected the territories of caller confederation members and a prohibition connected U.S. intermediate-range rocket deployments successful Europe oregon elsewhere wrong scope of Russian territory, according to the documents.

The Russians besides sought to barroom subject exercises by the U.S. oregon NATO from Eastern Europe to the Caucasus and Central Asia, the documents showed.

"These are the aforesaid Russian demands that person been made since 1945," said Kori Schake, a erstwhile Pentagon authoritative who directs overseas and defence argumentation studies astatine the American Enterprise Institute. "With the behaviour of the Trump medication successful caller weeks, Europeans aren’t conscionable frightened we’re abandoning them, they’re acrophobic we’ve joined the enemy."

(Reporting by Erin Banco successful New York and Jonathan Landay successful Washington; Editing by Don Durfee and Diane Craft)