Russia Demands Britain Stop Extending Its Nuclear Deterrent to Europe as Price of Peace
According to the Telegraph, Russia's negotiating position for talks on ending the war in Ukraine would require Britain to drop its nuclear deterrent commitment to NATO. European leaders and Finland have rejected the demands.
Russia is demanding that Britain stop extending its nuclear protection to the rest of Europe, the UK newspaper Telegraph reports. The demand appears in a document dated 10 November that sets out the position of Russian leader Vladimir Putin for talks on ending the war in Ukraine, mediated by US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff. It would require Britain's submarine-based nuclear deterrent to cease serving NATO's wider defense. NATO is the North Atlantic military alliance.
What Moscow is demanding
The paper proposes that NATO withdraw from Eastern Europe and the Baltic states, expel Finland, and promise to send no troops to Ukraine before Putin would consider a ceasefire. It also calls for an end to all Western arms deliveries to Ukraine, a ban on Ukraine joining NATO, and a pullback of alliance forces to their 1997 borders. The Telegraph says this revives the sweeping demands Putin made in late 2021, before the invasion.
What Russia offers in return
After a settlement, Russia would keep the Ukrainian territory it occupies, a large share of the country. In exchange, Moscow could allow Kyiv to join the EU, provided Ukraine is excluded from the bloc's common defense and agrees to remove nuclear weapons from Belarus.
Europe's response
After meeting European leaders in Dublin, UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Europe's security was not Russia's to bargain over. "That's not up for negotiation. It's for Europe to decide its own arrangements, Europe and Europe alone," he said.
Finland, which abandoned decades of neutrality to join NATO after the invasion, has ruled out any talks on its membership. Finnish Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen said such matters are in no way open to negotiation and called even suggesting it "absolutely outrageous".
Who will take part
On 13 November, EU leaders agreed that Europe would be represented in any Russia-Ukraine talks by the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Poland. Putin is believed to have agreed to let them join the talks, which the American mediators see as key to ending the war.
