Putin reportedly told U.S. envoys in Moscow he still wants NATO pulled back to its 1997 borders and Cold War-era dividing lines restored

Republican Sen. Tom Cotton recently took to X to criticize Russia’s recent demands for NATO to retreat to its 1997 borders. The former Army officer wrote, “NATO nations withdrawing from *their own* borders is a preposterous demand by Russia. Putin has proved once again that he’s not serious about a negotiated peace. Further talks are a farce at this point. Putin will only agree to stop the war when he knows he can’t win. We need to help Ukraine prove that point.”

The Arkansas senator’s comments were made in response to a New York Times report that Russia revived a set of far-reaching demands it first made before the 2022 Ukraine invasion, during closed-door negotiations in Abu Dhabi this week. Cotton’s primary concern is with Russia’s demands that NATO pull back forces from the eastern flank in Poland and the Baltics, bringing European security into negotiations over Ukraine. 

NYT noted that President Vladimir Putin has consistently insisted that land and border definition is one of the “root causes” of the war and needs to be addressed before he stops fighting. Russian officials reportedly made it clear that Cold War-era dividing lines in Europe should be reinstated. They argued that the power dynamics of the time, with separate U.S. and Soviet spheres of influence, reduced the risk of conflict and were thus a model for future stability. 

The document demands further European restriction

According to the Times, the document also calls for NATO to rule out further expansion and to cease all military activity in Ukraine, the South Caucasus, and Central Asia. This includes a demand to stop aid and “the supply of any type of Western weapons and military equipment and products to Ukraine.” 

Furthermore, the document demands that France and Britain rule out the use of their nuclear weapons for European protection, and that NATO drop its “nuclear sharing” program with the United States. Per the outlet, Russia also offered to approve Ukraine joining the European Union, but only on the condition that Ukraine doesn’t participate in the union’s common defense policy.

Russia’s demand for border retrenchment reportedly saw immediate and firm rejection from European leaders. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that accepting these conditions would be a direct threat to his country’s security. Tusk added, “It is clear that they are unacceptable not only to Ukraine but, above all, to Europe, and certainly to countries such as Poland.”

These negotiations did not result in a breakthrough about the war, but the Associated Press reported that both sides agreed to a large prisoner-of-war exchange. Jared Kushner, one of the U.S. envoys leading the talks, said he believed this agreement could help build trust. However, Russian foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov noted that the underlying positions on European security remain far apart.

The negotiations in the United Arab Emirates involved U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, who have been working to fulfill a promise to end the conflict. They had traveled to Russia and Ukraine before the sessions, where Witkoff drew criticism for commending Putin in St. Petersburg.

Per the NYT, during their debrief visits after the Abu Dhabi sessions, Putin reaffirmed that the 2021 proposal for a NATO pullback reflects “our vision of the pillars of an indivisible security architecture.” From Moscow, the envoys traveled to Dublin to debrief Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Kushner later stated, “We cannot conclude this deal without Europeans being at the table.”

His statement echoes one made by Zelenskyy, per AP News: “Ending this war without Europe’s participation would be unjust, and it would be impossible.”