US asks Russia to draft a European security treaty proposal

US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have asked Russia to prepare its own draft agreement on security in Europe, Axios reports. The condition: European representatives must be admitted to future peace talks.

For many years Russia has pushed for a European arrangement that would limit NATO's expansion and reduce its military presence in Eastern Europe. The US previously rejected such demands, but now, as Axios writes, it is showing some openness to them as part of a broad deal to end the war in Ukraine. According to the outlet, the main topic of the US-Russia-Ukraine meeting in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday and Wednesday was precisely this new security architecture.

What the Americans said

According to Axios sources, the Russian negotiators explained that Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine because then-President Biden never answered his 2021 letter outlining Russia's security concerns. Witkoff and Kushner, one source said, replied that "the world has changed a lot" since 2021, and suggested that Russia draw up a new draft that would address its concerns but also set out symmetrical de-escalation steps and guarantees against any future attack.

At a press conference, Kushner said that if Russia wants Europe to receive these proposals in good faith, proposals for easing tensions are needed as well. As Axios writes, the US made clear that it would not back such an agreement without Europe and Ukraine, and that Russia would have no veto over it.

Moscow's response

Russia has so far rejected European participation in peace talks. Russia's chief negotiator, Putin aide Vladimir Medinsky, said that the leaders of several European countries are taking part in a "collective deception of the Ukrainian people" and that he does not understand what there is to discuss with them. According to TASS, speaking of the European representatives in Abu Dhabi, who did not take part in the talks, he said that if they came as tourists, they can chat in the lobby bar, and any concrete proposals from them will be considered only when they appear.

Europe has repeatedly proposed a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, after which the end of the war would be discussed, but Moscow has always refused.

What's next

Witkoff and Kushner arrived in Moscow on Thursday morning for talks with Putin. According to Axios, they will also pass on the request to prepare a draft agreement with Europe and to admit Europeans to the next rounds. In the evening both are due to fly to Dublin, where an informal meeting of EU leaders with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will take place on Friday.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz