Russia Demands UK Withdraw Nuclear Protection From Europe
Russia wants Britain to stop extending its nuclear protection to the rest of Europe as one of the conditions set out for talks to end the war.
According to the Telegraph, fulfilling this stipulation would force the UK to sever its submarine-based nuclear deterrent’s allegiance to the broader defense of NATO. The document, dated 10 November, outlines Vladimir Putin’s position for talks mediated by US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff.
The proposal revives the sweeping demands Putin made in late 2021 before invading Ukraine. European leaders responded by stating that the continent’s security is not Moscow’s to decide.
Before entertaining the notion of a ceasefire, Putin’s document suggests that the alliance pull back from the Baltic states and Eastern Europe, cast out Finland, and pledge that no troops will be sent to Ukraine. Furthermore, it insists upon a cessation of all Western military supplies to Kyiv, a prohibition against the nation ever entering NATO, and a retreat of alliance troops back to their positions as of 1997.
In exchange, Moscow could let Kyiv join the EU, provided Ukraine is shut out of the bloc’s common defense and agrees to remove nuclear weapons from Belarus. Russia would also keep the Ukrainian territory it occupies.
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham pushed back against the conditions after meeting European leaders in Dublin.
“That’s not up for negotiation. It’s for Europe to decide its own arrangements, Europe and Europe alone,” Burnham said.
Finland, which abandoned decades of neutrality to join NATO after the invasion, ruled out any talks on its membership.
“Such matters are in no way a matter for negotiation. Russia knows that. This is absolutely outrageous to even suggest such a thing,” Antti Häkkänen told Euromaidan Press, speaking as Finnish Defense Minister.
Representing the European continent in any upcoming negotiations between Russia and Ukraine were Poland, Italy, Germany, France, and the UK, per an accord reached by EU leaders on 13 November. Putin is believed to have agreed to let them join the peace talks, which American mediators see as key to ending the war.