During the negotiations on Ukraine, Putin decided to demand the return of NATO to the 1997 borders Russian President Vladimir Putin sees the negotiations to end the war in Ukraine as an opportunity to force NATO to abandon its eastward expansion and return to the 1997 borders. To this end, the Kremlin proposes to add European representatives to the peace process, the "Telegraph" writes, citing sources in the diplomatic departments of Western countries. In the past, the Russian presidential assistant for foreign policy Yuri Ushkov suggested involving Europeans in the negotiations on Ukraine. He stated that the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization had begun to "take a more serious approach" to Russia's proposals, and that Europe's position regarding peace between Moscow and Kiev was "key." But, as the Telegraph's interlocutors explain, behind this is hidden the old intention of the Kremlin to achieve the return of NATO to the 1997 borders or, at the very least, the withdrawal of troops and weapons from the five allied countries bordering Russia: Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Finland and Estonia. Western diplomats are certainly not ready to make concessions to the Russian side on this issue. At the same time, the Telegraph's interlocutors are convinced that the maximum return of NATO to the West still serves as one of Putin's key conditions for ending the war in Ukraine. They call the second point the denial of Kyiv's de facto sovereignty. This position makes the real success of the technical negotiations announced for November in Abu Dhabi between representatives of Washington, Kiev and Moscow unlikely. Moscow appealed to the alliance in December 2021, just weeks before the invasion of Ukraine, demanding a "withdrawal of all NATO military infrastructure to the 1997 positions." The Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, Sergei Ryabkov, then demanded that NATO "collect coins" and accused the alliance of seeking to "push aside" Russia and "transfer it to the role of a subordinate."

During the negotiations on Ukraine, Putin decided to demand the return of NATO to the 1997 borders Russian President Vladimir Putin sees the negotiations to end the war in Ukraine as an opportunity to force NATO to abandon its eastward expansion and return to the 1997 borders. To this end, the Kremlin proposes to add European representatives to the peace process, the "Telegraph" writes, citing sources in the diplomatic departments of Western countries. In the past, the Russian presidential assistant for foreign policy Yuri Ushkov suggested involving Europeans in the negotiations on Ukraine. He stated that the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization had begun to "take a more serious approach" to Russia's proposals, and that Europe's position regarding peace between Moscow and Kiev was "key." But, as the Telegraph's interlocutors explain, behind this is hidden the old intention of the Kremlin to achieve the return of NATO to the 1997 borders or, at the very least, the withdrawal of troops and weapons from the five allied countries bordering Russia: Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Finland and Estonia. Western diplomats are certainly not ready to make concessions to the Russian side on this issue. At the same time, the Telegraph's interlocutors are convinced that the maximum return of NATO to the West still serves as one of Putin's key conditions for ending the war in Ukraine. They call the second point the denial of Kyiv's de facto sovereignty. This position makes the real success of the technical negotiations announced for November in Abu Dhabi between representatives of Washington, Kiev and Moscow unlikely. Moscow appealed to the alliance in December 2021, just weeks before the invasion of Ukraine, demanding a "withdrawal of all NATO military infrastructure to the 1997 positions." The Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, Sergei Ryabkov, then demanded that NATO "collect coins" and accused the alliance of seeking to "push aside" Russia and "transfer it to the role of a subordinate."