Amid massive Russian military deployment on the border with Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin has demanded a NATO roll back in East Europe.
On Friday, Moscow published a list of demands addressed to the United States and the NATO that calls for an “end to NATO military activity in eastern Europe, including Ukraine, the Caucasus and Central Asia” and “[n]o expansion of NATO membership, particularly to Ukraine,” Germany’s DW News reported citing the Kremlin document.
The NATO roll back demand by Moscow would mean that countries like Poland and Baltic states would be without the NATO’s protection in case of a Russian military aggression — the very countries Stalin’s Soviet Army invaded under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939. Russia demands “the withdrawal of multinational NATO battalions from Poland and from the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania that were once in the Soviet Union,” the Reuters noted.
The Associated Press reported Kremlin’s sweeping demands to the West:
Russia on Friday published draft security demands that NATO deny membership to Ukraine and other former Soviet countries and roll back the alliance’s military deployments in Central and Eastern Europe — bold ultimatums that are almost certain to be rejected by the U.S. and its allies.The proposals, which were submitted to the U.S. and its allies earlier this week, also call for a ban on sending U.S. and Russian warships and aircraft to areas from where they can strike each other’s territory, along with a halt to NATO military drills near Russia.The demand for a written guarantee that Ukraine won’t be offered membership already has been rejected by the West, which said Moscow doesn’t have a say in NATO’s enlargement. (…)The publication of the demands — contained in a proposed Russia-U.S. security treaty and a security agreement between Moscow and NATO — comes amid soaring tensions over a Russian troop buildup near Ukraine that has raised fears of an invasion.
The NATO and European powers fear a Russian incursion as Moscow deployed close to 100,000 troops at its border with Ukraine in recent weeks. A newly publicized U.S. intelligence report also warns of an imminent Russian invasion of the former Soviet republic. “U.S. intelligence assesses that Russia could be planning a multi-front offensive on neighbouring Ukraine as early as next year, involving up to 175,000 troops,” The Reuters reported Monday.
The Russian invasion “plans involve extensive movement of 100 battalion tactical groups … along with armor, artillery, and equipment,” the intelligence report said. At least 50 battalion tactical groups are already in the border region, the media reports confirm.
Another Kremlin demand is that “[n]either Russia nor the United States can deploy nuclear weapons outside their national territories,” the DW News reported. This will have a major geostrategic implication as China rapidly expands its atomic adrenal and nuclear weapons delivery systems.
In making these sweeping demands, Russia has the backing of Communist China. Earlier this week, Beijing placed its full weight behind Kremlin’s strategic ambitions in eastern Europe. “Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to support Russian efforts to protect its long-term security amid rising international pressure over Moscow’s attitude to Ukraine,” the newspaper South China Morning Post reported following a conference call between presidents Xi Jinping and Putin on Wednesday.
NATO: Russian military build-up continues at Ukraine border
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