According to three Russian sources familiar with the negotiations, Vladimir Putin's conditions for ending the war in Ukraine include a demand that Western leaders promise in writing to stop NATO's eastward expansion and lift a number of sanctions against Russia, reports Reuters. This means an official rejection of Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, and other former Soviet republics joining it.
«Putin is ready to make peace, but not at any cost», — a senior Russian interlocutor told the agency.
Russia also wants Ukraine to be neutral, some Western sanctions to be lifted, the issue of frozen Russian sovereign assets in the West to be resolved, and protection for Russian speakers in Ukraine to be ensured, sources said.
At the same time, if Putin realizes that he cannot achieve a peace agreement on his terms, he will seek to capture even more territories and show Ukrainians and Europeans that «tomorrow's peace will be even more painful».
Putin and Russian officials have repeatedly stated that any peace agreement should aim to eliminate the «root causes» of the conflict — the Russian designation of the issue of NATO expansion and Western support for Ukraine.
Kiev believes that Russia should not have a veto over its aspiration to join the Alliance. In the past, NATO has also stated that it will not change its «open door» policy just because Moscow demands it.
Currently, Russia controls just under one-fifth of the country's territory. Although Russian forces have made some gains over the past year, the war is costly for both Russia and Ukraine in terms of losses and military expenses.
At the same time, the Kremlin believes that Russia can fight for years, regardless of the sanctions imposed by the West. Therefore, Putin is now less inclined to compromise on territory and maintains the position that he must get all four regions of Ukraine that Russia claims.
As the agency writes, Putin considers the war a turning point in Moscow's relations with the West, which, he says, humiliated Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 by expanding NATO and invading Moscow's sphere of influence.
At the Bucharest summit in 2008, NATO leaders agreed that Ukraine and Georgia would one day become members of the organization. In 2019, Ukraine amended its constitution, committing to the path of full membership in NATO and the European Union.
Trump stated that previous US support for Ukraine's NATO membership application was the cause of the war and indicated that Ukraine would not gain membership.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine prompted Finland to join NATO in 2023, followed by Sweden in 2024.