Russia wants NATO to return to its 1997 military positions. Moscow says Europe’s security cannot be separated from the Ukraine war.

Russia has put its demand to the United States in writing during the latest Ukraine peace talks in Abu Dhabi. A document dated November 10 calls for NATO to pull its troops and military infrastructure back to positions held in 1997, before the alliance expanded into Central and Eastern Europe.

That would affect Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the Baltic states, among others. The demand concerns NATO’s military presence and activities. It does not literally require those countries to leave the alliance.

Moscow’s argument is that NATO’s eastward expansion brought military infrastructure closer to Russian territory and undermined the security arrangements that existed after the Cold War. Russian officials have pointed to the old division of Europe into American and Soviet security spheres, arguing that it helped prevent a direct confrontation between the powers.

The United States and NATO have rejected the idea that Russia can dictate where the alliance deploys forces. Countries that joined NATO after 1997 did so through their own political decisions. Their governments are not parties to an agreement giving Moscow authority over their defense arrangements.

The document goes further than troop withdrawals. Russia also wants an end to Western arms deliveries to Ukraine, a permanent block on Ukrainian NATO membership, restrictions on NATO military activity across Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus and Central Asia, and limits on Britain’s and France’s ability to extend their nuclear deterrent to other European countries.

These are not new demands. Moscow presented much of the same position in December 2021, shortly before launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The new document repeats parts of that proposal and adds further restrictions.

There is one distinction worth keeping in mind: this is Russia’s opening negotiating position, not an agreed settlement. US representatives have reportedly urged Moscow to offer concrete steps to reduce tensions. Whether Russia is prepared to negotiate those demands remains to be seen.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/11/13/world/europe/russia-ukraine-war-nato-demands.html

https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2026/11/14/8062819/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/11/14/russia-seeks-nato-pullback-zelensky-says-us-asked-about-ceding-territory/