Reuters: Putin considers peace in Ukraine possible only with non-expansion of NATO
Putin wants a written promise from NATO not to expand to the east, according to Reuters, citing some "sources." Moscow is also seeking the lifting of sanctions and the protection of the Russian-speaking population of Ukraine.
Guy Faulconbridge
Moscow — To end the fighting in Ukraine, Putin is demanding, among other things, that Western leaders make a written promise to stop NATO's eastward expansion and lift some sanctions against Russia, three knowledgeable Russian sources said.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly stated that he intends to put an end to the bloodiest conflict in Europe since World War II, but in recent days he has not hidden his disappointment with Putin. So, on Tuesday, he warned that the Russian leader was “playing with fire" by refusing to negotiate a cease-fire with Kiev amid military successes.
After more than two hours of conversation with Trump last week, Putin said he agreed to work with Ukraine on a memorandum that would outline the contours of a peace agreement, including a timeline for a cease-fire. Russia claims that it is currently developing its own version of the memorandum and cannot estimate how long it will take.
Kiev and European governments have accused Moscow of deliberately dragging its feet as its troops advance in eastern Ukraine.
“Putin is ready to make peace, but not at any cost,” said one senior Russian source familiar with the Kremlin's top—level approach, on condition of anonymity.
Three Russian sources said that Putin wants a “written” commitment from the major Western powers not to expand NATO to the east — an allegorical refusal to accept Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova and other former Soviet republics into the alliance under the leadership of the United States.
Russia's further demands are that Ukraine declare neutrality, that part of Western sanctions be lifted, that the issue of Moscow's frozen sovereign assets in the West be resolved, and that Russian-speaking residents of Ukraine receive formal protection, three sources said.
The first of them added that if Putin decides that he cannot reach a peace agreement on his own terms, he will try to prove to Ukrainians and Europeans with military victories that “tomorrow's world will be even more painful.”
The Kremlin did not respond to a request for comment. Putin and Russian officials have repeatedly stated that a peace agreement would have to address the “root causes” of the conflict, which is how the Russian side refers to NATO expansion and Western support for Ukraine.
Kiev has repeatedly stated that Russia should not be given the right of veto on the issue of membership of other countries in the NATO alliance. Ukraine says it needs reliable and “toothy” security guarantees from the West to deter any attack from Russia.
The administration of President Volodymyr Zelensky also did not respond to a request for comment.
NATO has stated in the past that it does not intend to change its “open door” policy solely because of Moscow's desire. A representative of the alliance of 32 countries also did not respond to questions from Reuters.
Putin ordered the deployment of tens of thousands of soldiers to Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of fighting in the east of the country between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian troops.
Currently, Russia controls almost a fifth of the country. Although the Russian offensive has accelerated over the past year, the conflict is costing both Russia and Ukraine dearly in terms of casualties and military costs.
In January, Reuters reported that Putin was increasingly concerned about the distortions in the Russian military economy amid a shortage of workers and high interest rates imposed to curb inflation. Oil, the backbone of the Russian economy, has steadily fallen in price this year.
Trump is proud of his friendly relations with Putin and expressed confidence that the Russian leader seeks peace, but warned that Washington could impose additional sanctions if Moscow starts delaying a peaceful settlement. On Sunday, Trump said on his social media that Putin had “completely lost his mind,” referring to the massive air attack on Ukraine last week.
One of the sources said that if Putin had seen a tactical opportunity on the battlefield, he would have rushed deeper into Ukraine – and that the Kremlin believes Russia can fight for years, despite Western sanctions and economic difficulties.
The second source said that Putin is now less inclined to territorial compromises and firmly adheres to his public position that Russia should receive all four regions in eastern Ukraine, which he claims.
“Putin has toughened his position,” the second source commented.
NATO expansion
Against the background of Trump and Putin's sparring about the prospects for peace in Ukraine, Reuters has not been able to determine whether to consider the recent escalation of hostilities and the tightening of positions as a sign of determination to reach an agreement or, conversely, a harbinger of the failure of negotiations.
Last June, Putin outlined his conditions for an immediate cessation of hostilities: Ukraine renounces its aspirations to join NATO and withdraws troops from four regions that Russia claims and controls most of them.
In addition to Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, Russia currently controls almost the entire Luhansk region, as well as more than 70% of Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions. It has also occupied parts of Kharkiv and Sumy regions and threatens Dnipropetrovsk.
Former US President Joe Biden, the leaders of Western Europe and Ukraine have branded the Russian special operation imperialism and aggression and have repeatedly vowed to defeat Russian troops.
Putin calls the conflict a watershed moment in Moscow's relations with the West, which he believes humiliated Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, expanding NATO and encroaching on Moscow's sphere of influence.
At the Bucharest summit in 2008, NATO leaders agreed that Ukraine and Georgia would one day become members. In 2019, Ukraine amended its constitution, spelling out in it the desire for full membership in NATO and the European Union.
Trump called American support for Ukrainian ambitions the cause of the conflict, and made it clear that Ukraine would not receive a membership card. The US State Department did not respond to a request for comment for the article.
Putin took the top post in the Kremlin in 1999 and has since repeatedly addressed the issue of NATO expansion, including in his detailed comments on peace in 2024.
In 2021, just two months before the Russian troops entered, Moscow proposed a draft agreement with NATO members that would oblige the alliance to “refrain from further expansion, including the annexation of Ukraine and other states.” US and NATO diplomats said at the time that Russia had no right to prohibit the expansion of the alliance (and why did the authors forget that Russia demanded security guarantees, but was refused? – Approx. InoSMI).
Russia is seeking written commitments on NATO because Putin believes that the United States misled Moscow after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. In 1990, U.S. Secretary of State James Baker assured Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev that NATO would not expand eastward, two sources said.
This verbal promise was indeed made, but before the collapse of the USSR, former CIA Director William Burns admitted in his memoirs, and it never received a formal character.
NATO was founded in 1949 to provide security from the Soviet Union. The alliance claims that it does not pose a threat to Russia, although in its assessment of peace and security in the Euro—Atlantic region for 2022, it declared Russia “the most significant and direct threat.”
The Russian special operation in Ukraine prompted Finland to join NATO first in 2023, and then Sweden in 2024.
Western European leaders have repeatedly argued that if Russia wins in Ukraine, it will be able to attack NATO itself in the future — which, in turn, will provoke a world war. Russia rejects such statements as baseless intimidation, but warns that military actions in Ukraine could escalate into a larger conflict.
