17 Dec 2021 - Russia issues list of demands it says must be met to "lower tensions" in Europe

Before the invasion of the Ukraine, Russia issued these demands.  These demands 
are today, not required to end the war in the Ukraine.  But they might provide 
some background context to the Russian attempts to avoid the war, even if they 
knew for certain some of these demands would never be met.  For instance, Russia 
wanted NATO to revert to its pre-1997 boundaries, and this is never going to 
happen. This is not currently a requirement to end the war in the Ukraine today. 
This was a demand last December, before the invasion.


https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/17/russia-issues-list-demands-tensions-europe-ukraine-nato


Russia issues list of demands it says must be met to lower tensions in Europe

Contentious security guarantees Moscow is seeking include a ban on Ukraine from 
entering Nato

Andrew Roth in Moscow
Fri 17 Dec 2021 09.16 EST
This article is more than 4 months old
First published on Fri 17 Dec 2021 08.16 EST

"Russia has put forward a highly contentious list of security guarantees it says 
it wants the west to agree to in order to lower tensions in Europe and defuse the 
crisis over Ukraine, including many elements that have already been ruled out.

The demands include a ban on Ukraine entering Nato and a limit to the deployment 
of troops and weapons to Nato’s eastern flank, in effect returning Nato forces to 
where they were stationed in 1997, before an eastward expansion.

The eight-point draft treaty was released by Russia’s foreign ministry as its 
forces massed within striking distance of Ukraine’s borders. Moscow said ignoring 
its interests would lead to a “military response” similar to the Cuban missile 
crisis of 1962."

continues...


&

Russia issues a eight-point list of demands
By Ben Aris in Berlin December 13, 2021

https://intellinews.com/russia-issues-a-eight-point-list-of-demands-229829/

"The main articles of Russian draft proposed agreement demand included eight 
articles with the following points:

Article 1: the parties should not strengthen their security at the expense of 
Russia’s security;

Article 2: the parties will use  multilateral consultations and the NATO-Russia 
Council to address points of conflict;

Article 3: the parties reaffirm that they do not consider each other as 
adversaries and maintain a dialogue;

Article 4: the parties shall not deploy military forces and weaponry on the 
territory of any of the other states in Europe in addition to any forces that were 
deployed as of May 27, 1997;

Article 5: the parties shall not deploy land-based intermediate- and short-range 
missiles adjacent to the other parties;

Article 6: all member States of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization commit 
themselves to refrain from any further enlargement of NATO, including the 
accession of Ukraine as well as other States;

Article 7: the parties that are member States of the North Atlantic Treaty 
Organization shall not conduct any military activity on the territory of Ukraine 
as well as other States in the Eastern Europe, in the South Caucasus and in 
Central Asia; and

Article 8: the agreement shall not be interpreted as affecting the primary 
responsibility of the Security Council of the United Nations for maintaining 
international peace and security."



&

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/12/17/ukraine-russia-military/

"raised worries among analysts that Moscow is making requests that it knows the 
United States will not agree to, seeking to send a message domestically and create 
a pretext for possible military action against Ukraine once those demands are 
spurned."

"Russia published two lists of demands — for Washington and for NATO — the latter 
calling for the removal of all NATO military infrastructure installed in Eastern 
European countries after 1997, effectively attempting to rework the consequences 
of the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991, which left Russia weakened for years."

"A senior Biden administration official described some of Russia’s demands as 
“unacceptable” to Washington and said Moscow “knows that.”"


Before the invasion of the Ukraine, Russia issued these demands.  These demands 
are today, not required to end the war in the Ukraine.  But they might provide 
some background context to the Russian attempts to avoid the war, even if they 
knew for certain some of these demands would never be met.  For instance, Russia 
wanted NATO to revert to its pre-1997 boundaries, and this is never going to 
happen. This is not currently a requirement to end the war in the Ukraine today. 
This was a demand last December, before the invasion.