Putin Wants Rollback of NATO Expansion
Jan. 17—Sources in Washington and Europe say that when Russian President Vladimir Putin calls for a new security architecture for Europe, as he did in a recent speech to diplomats at the Kremlin, he means a total rollback of NATO’s eastern expansion, which began in 1998.
“What he is referring to is contained in two treaties that he had offered the West, including the United States, in the months before the start of the ‘Special Military Operation’ in Ukraine in February 2022,” a source stated. “Those treaties, in which Russia said it had no desire to expand beyond its borders, as extant in 1991, and would not militarily attack NATO or the United States, also said that the U.S. and NATO must live up to the promises made by President George H.W. Bush that if Russia allowed German reunification, NATO would not move ‘one inch’ eastward — a promise which Putin has repeatedly pointed out the U.S. and NATO have broken. [President] Joe Biden and NATO rejected Putin’s offer, never really discussing it.”
“Now Putin is saying that something similar must be accepted if there is going to be peace in Ukraine,” the source said. “He is saying that the new security architecture is a precondition for a peace deal to end the war, and that if it is not put in place, then Russia will continue to pursue its war aims militarily, which everyone knows will lead to the defeat and total collapse of Ukraine.”
This and other sources believe that Putin has altered Russia’s negotiating strategy on a peace deal because he has seen the Europeans and their puppet, NATO’s Ukrainian dictator Volodymyr Zelenskyy, sabotage all of Trump’s efforts to secure a peace deal.
Security Guarantees for Ukraine Collide With Russian Demands
Putin is bringing up the new security architecture to counter European demands for security guarantees for Ukraine that would harm Russia, including the permanent basing of NATO troops in Ukraine to discourage Russia from restarting hostilities. In his speech, Putin stated that security is “indivisible,” that it must serve everyone equally, and not benefit one party or another.
The Russians had put this concept in their original discussions with the Trump team — with Trump himself in discussion with Putin at the Alaska summit last August, and then in discussion with Trump Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, who placed the concerns in the original 28‑point peace plan, which has been hacked to death by the Europeans and Zelenskyy, and their, new 20-point plan has basically been totally rejected by the Russians.
Witkoff and Kushner Expected in Moscow as Putin Resets Terms
The Kremlin has confirmed that Witkoff and presidential son‑in‑law Jared Kushner will meet with Putin in the near future. The source said that Witkoff had expected a toughening of the Russian stance following the failed drone attack on Putin’s Valdi residence late last month, but Putin has instead appeared to totally flip the script, saying that he wants an agreement on a new security architecture for Europe prior to any deal on Ukraine being signed, since it could only work from within that new framework.
The U.S. still refuses to accept that a drone attack on Putin took place or accept any responsibility for involvement in the 90‑plus drone assault that required assistance from either the British, the U.S., or both. Trump, speaking to the press the other day, continues to hope for a breakthrough, citing faked Russian casualty figures coming from the British and Ukrainians as to why Putin must agree to a deal to halt the carnage. Regardless of what Trump says publicly, a source close to the White House said that Trump knows that the Russians are winning and that the war is hopelessly lost.
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy has dispatched a Ukrainian delegation to meet with Trump’s team before they head to Moscow.