Russian President Vladimir Putin is open to ending the full-scale war in Ukraine – but only if the West agrees to sweeping concessions, including halting NATO’s eastward expansion and lifting sanctions.
“Putin is ready to make peace, but not at any price,” one senior Russian source with knowledge of top-level Kremlin thinking told Reuters.
No veto, says Kyiv Ukraine has consistently rejected the notion that Moscow should have the power of veto over its aspirations to join NATO.
More territory, less compromise According to a second Russian source, Putin has hardened his stance on territorial concessions.
In June 2023, Putin’s publicly stated peace terms included Ukraine abandoning NATO ambitions and withdrawing from all Russian-claimed territory.
If the West makes broad concessions, such as stopping NATO’s eastward expansion and lifting sanctions, Russian President Vladimir Putin is amenable to ending the full-scale conflict in Ukraine.
One senior Russian source familiar with top-level Kremlin thinking told Reuters, “Putin is ready to make peace, but not at any price.”.
The conditions include the following, according to three unnamed Russian sources that the media outlet cited.
a formal commitment by the main Western nations to prevent NATO from moving eastward, thereby excluding Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, and other former Soviet states from joining.
Ukrainian neutrality.
major Western sanctions are being removed.
An answer to the fate of Russian sovereign assets that have been frozen.
Russian speakers in Ukraine are protected.
The first source claims that Putin will try to demonstrate through military escalation that turning down his offer would lead to a “more painful” outcome later on if he is unable to reach a peace agreement on his own terms.
Requests for comment from Reuters were not answered by the Kremlin.
Kyiv says it will not veto.
Ukraine has repeatedly denied that Moscow should have the authority to veto Ukraine’s NATO membership. Kyiv has stated that it wants legally binding security guarantees with enforcement authority, but the administration of President Volodymyr Zelensky did not respond to the report.
The 32 current NATO members’ spokespeople also chose not to comment. The alliance has previously declared that it would not renounce its “open door” policy in reaction to demands from Russia.
Less compromise for more territory.
Putin’s position on territorial concessions has become more firm, according to a second Russian source. Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson are the four Ukrainian territories that the Kremlin claims are a part of the Russian Federation, and it is reportedly unwilling to leave any of them.
The source claimed that Putin has hardened his stance.
Putin’s publicly declared peace conditions in June 2023 included Ukraine giving up its aspirations to join NATO and leaving all Russian-claimed territory. The majority of Luhansk, more than 70% of Donetsk, and portions of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson are currently under Russian control. Additionally, it threatens parts of Dnipropetrovsk and contains smaller portions of the Kharkiv and Sumy regions.
New demands, old promises.
Putin has frequently referred to a verbal promise made to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev by then-US Secretary of State James Baker in 1990 that NATO would not move “one inch eastward.”. That pledge was never documented, and the United States has since stated that it did not constitute a legally binding contract.
Former Director of the CIA, William J. Such a conversation did occur, Burns acknowledged in his memoir, but he made it clear that no legal commitments were made and that it happened prior to the fall of the Soviet Union.
According to reports, Moscow now wants that guarantee in writing.
According to Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, there isn’t a deadline for writing a memorandum with Ukraine that might serve as the foundation for a future peace deal.
Peskov said that talks on such a document were still in their early stages and that no decisions had been made regarding the format or venue of possible future Russia-Ukraine talks, following the May 19 phone call between Putin and US President Donald Trump.
The memorandum will be developed collaboratively, he said, stressing that there are no deadlines for its preparation because the process will entail intricate negotiations and the sharing of draft proposals.
Following the call, Putin had stated that Moscow was prepared to collaborate with Ukraine in defining the fundamentals of a potential settlement. Peskov did, however, restate Russia’s stance that any long-term solution must address the alleged “root causes” of the conflict.
