Putin demands NATO security guarantees

At the Kremlin on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin again insisted on promises that Ukraine and other former Soviet countries not be allowed to join NATO and the military alliance withdraw deployments in Central and Eastern Europe. Just days earlier, Moscow submitted the same demands in proposed security agreements with the United States and NATO. Putin said the Kremlin needs “long-term, legally binding guarantees” rather than verbal promises.

What is Russia’s concern? Putin said NATO has expanded eastward since the late 1990s, and he claimed that is the reason for heightened tensions with Russia. Thousands of Russian troops are amassed along the Ukrainian border, but Moscow denies it has plans to invade the country. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington is working with European allies to address “Russian aggression” diplomatically. He added that President Joe Biden opposes the kind of guarantees Putin seeks. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday that he intends to call a new meeting of the NATO-Russia Council as soon as possible in 2022.

Dig deeper: Listen to Jill Nelson’s report on Russian troop buildup along Ukraine’s borders on The World and Everything in It podcast.