This Friday (17) Russia released a draft of an agreement that it intends to negotiate with the United States to resolve the crisis of the concentration of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine.
Among the text’s demands, Russia demands that the United States commit to “prevent further eastward expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and deny alliance membership to the states of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ”, which would represent the withdrawal of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania from NATO and the veto of the possible entry of Ukraine in the organization.
Russia also demands the return “to (US and Russian) territories of nuclear weapons already deployed outside their territories”, which would mean the removal of nuclear weapons that the United States stores in Europe.
Ukraine estimates that more than 90,000 Russian troops are already concentrated on the border and fears an invasion along the lines of the annexation of Crimea and separatist movements in the Donbass region, both in 2014. Moscow claims its only objective is self-defence.
A high-ranking US government official told Reuters that the United States will respond to Russian demands next week, but has already hinted that “there are things in these documents that Russians know are unacceptable.”
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