What demands has Russia put forward to end the war in Ukraine?

On March 11, the United States and Ukraine resumed constructive dialogue on ending the war. The parties agreed to begin with a 30-day ceasefire. The next step is up to Moscow. The Trump administration is pressuring Russia to agree to peace talks and a ceasefire in Ukraine. The publication wrote about what the Kremlin wants The Washington Post.

Photo: Eduard Kryzhanivskyi | Dreamstime.com

More than three years after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin maintains tough and maximalist conditions for any potential deal to end the war.

On March 13, he said he supported in principle the idea of ​​a 30-day ceasefire proposed by the United States and endorsed by Ukraine. However, Putin noted that the implementation of this plan raises many questions, especially regarding control over the long front line. Such a tactic would allow Russia to conduct protracted negotiations without rejecting the proposal outright.

On the subject: US resumes arms supplies and intelligence transfer to Ukraine: results of talks in Saudi Arabia

Putin also said Ukraine could use the 30-day respite to regroup and rearm. He hinted that he would impose his own conditions on the pause, such as a halt to Western arms supplies or a ban on mobilization.

But Moscow's demands are far from what Ukraine or its allies would accept.

So, let us clarify that Russia has stated its conditions for concluding a peace agreement.

Territory

Three years after the start of a full-scale war, Russia controls almost a fifth of Ukraine's territory. Russia wants to keep this and even more. Moscow rules out returning any of the captured territories.

Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on March 13: "Crimea, Sevastopol, Kherson, Zaporozhye, Donetsk, Lugansk are regions of Russia. They are enshrined in the constitution. This is a given."

Russia annexed Crimea, particularly Sevastopol, in 2014, though it is still internationally recognized as part of Ukraine. The other regions Peskov mentioned were illegally annexed in 2022.

In June, Putin said Russia would immediately end the fighting if Ukraine surrendered four southeastern regions partly occupied by Russian troops and abandoned plans to join NATO. Putin also wants Russia's land grab to be recognized as legitimate.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has long emphasized that Ukraine will not surrender sovereign territories, but has recently shifted the focus to security guarantees rather than the immediate return of territories.

In addition, Russia's demands include the demilitarization of Ukraine, which would leave the country with a small army that would be unable to deter future attacks.

NATO peacekeepers

To justify his aggression in Ukraine, Putin has invoked the possibility of further NATO expansion. Putin finds Ukraine's membership in the alliance, a defensive interstate union that requires member states to defend each other if attacked, unacceptable.

But Zelensky sees Ukraine’s membership in the alliance as a key guarantee of its security. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said last month that Ukraine’s membership in NATO was “an unrealistic outcome,” but later, while not ruling it out entirely, said it was unlikely because of “the realities on the ground.”

NATO is bigger than it was before the war, with Sweden and Finland joining the alliance. But the US commitment to the alliance has increasingly come into question under Trump.

In his 2024 state of the nation address, Putin warned of “tragic consequences” if NATO forces were deployed in Ukraine. He threatened to strike the West if Russia was attacked.

"All this really threatens a conflict with the use of nuclear weapons and the destruction of civilization," the Russian leader said at the time. "Don't they understand this?"

The Kremlin has also ruled out the presence of foreign peacekeepers in Ukraine, a proposal that some European countries have considered as a possible security guarantee.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on March 13 that Russia would not accept “the participation of other countries in the conflict.” This would force “Moscow to respond with all available means.”

European countries including Britain and France have offered to send thousands of troops to Ukraine once the fighting ends. Russia this week, rejecting an offer from French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, reiterated that it would “under no circumstances” accept NATO peacekeepers on Ukrainian soil.

“Why should we agree to a peacekeeping mission from countries that have declared us an enemy?” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov asked in an interview with pro-Kremlin American bloggers on March 12.

Diplomatic missions

Russia has used renewed contacts with the United States to address issues beyond the war in Ukraine, including long-standing grievances over frozen diplomatic facilities dating back to the Obama administration.

Talks between Russia and the United States in Istanbul on February 27 focused on the status of diplomatic missions on both sides, whose work has been significantly curtailed by mutual expulsions and restrictions on personnel.

Russia has demanded the return of six diplomatic properties it says were illegally seized by the U.S. between 2016 and 2018. The list includes buildings in New York and Maryland frozen under Obama, as well as consulates in Seattle and San Francisco closed by the Trump administration because of their proximity to sensitive sites, including Silicon Valley, a submarine base and Boeing facilities.

Washington raised the issue of access to banking services and staffing to ensure the stable operation of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. The State Department said that “as a result of constructive discussions, both sides identified concrete initial steps to stabilize the diplomatic missions.”

Shortly after the meeting, Moscow announced that it had received credentials from Washington to appoint a new ambassador, Alexander Darchiev.

Easing sanctions

US sanctions imposed by the Biden administration after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 have weakened Russia's economy and hampered its military sector. Trump has expressed a willingness to discuss sanctions relief as part of a potential peace deal.

Publicly, the Kremlin insists that all sanctions are illegal and must be lifted. But analysts say Moscow would privately welcome any easing of sanctions, as it would undermine Western unity in enforcing them.

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Russia is particularly interested in lifting restrictions on transnational payments and the sale of gas and oil, especially recent bans on its fleet of oil tankers.

One of the most significant measures was the freezing of more than $300 billion in Russian central bank assets held in the West. The EU adopted a plan last year to use the interest from those frozen assets to support Ukraine.

Putin called the strategy "theft." France proposed using the assets as collateral that could be confiscated if Russia violated the ceasefire.

Moscow also insisted on resuming direct flights to the United States, which would be a significant easing of sanctions. The State Department did not mention this in its statement on the talks.

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