Putin demands Britain stop defending Europe with nuclear weapons

Russia has said Britain must stop using nuclear weapons to protect its European allies if it wants peace in Ukraine.

The proposal is on a list of requirements drawn up by Russian negotiators for talks about ending the long-running war.

Moscow’s policy document calls for Nato to withdraw its forces from Eastern Europe and the Baltic states, remove Finland from the alliance and commit to not sending troops to Ukraine before Vladimir Putin will consider a ceasefire.

The paper seeks to end “the supply of any type of Western weapons and military equipment and products to Ukraine”, while blocking the war-torn country from joining Nato.

After the war, Russia would keep Ukrainian territories it has occupied, gaining control of large areas of the country.

In exchange, Moscow could approve Kyiv joining the EU, as long as it is excluded from the bloc’s common defence policy.

The document, dated Nov 10, was first reported by Bild, the German newspaper that, like The Telegraph, is part of Axel Springer‘s Global Reporters network.

It is a revival of the far-reaching demands made by the Russian president in late 2021 for Nato to scale back its operations across Europe, before he invaded Ukraine two months later.

Putin wants Western troops and weapons to be pulled back to Nato’s borders as they were in 1997, before the alliance expanded eastward into former Soviet Union states.

He has been convinced to restart face-to-face peace talks with the US, Ukraine and European officials on the proviso they also discuss a new “security architecture” for the Continent.

The Nov 10 document is Putin’s opening position for any future negotiations mediated by Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump’s peace envoys.

Many of his conditions will be swiftly rejected by Nato’s 32 allies and Ukraine. Britain is likely to reject the demand not to extend its nuclear umbrella over its allies.

The UK is the only European nation to commit its submarine-based nuclear deterrent to the wider defence of Nato.

On Thursday, after meeting European leaders in Dublin, Andy Burnham told reporters that continental security was not up for negotiation with Russia.

The Prime Minister said: “There was a very strong feeling that Russian demands to put the question of European security architecture or European security arrangements into this negotiation.

“Well, no, that’s not up for negotiation. It’s for Europe to decide its own arrangements, Europe and Europe alone.”

Finland will not leave Nato

Finland, which ditched decades of military neutrality to join Nato in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, has categorically ruled out negotiating its membership.

Antti Häkkänen, the Nordic nation’s defence minister, said: “Such matters are in no way a matter for negotiation. Russia knows that. This is absolutely outrageous to even suggest such a thing.”

Margus Tsahkna, Estonia’s foreign minister, wrote online: “Europe’s security is decided by Europeans. Neither Estonia nor Europe will ever discuss Finland’s Nato membership, or any other sovereign security decision, with Putin.”

On Friday, EU leaders decided that they would be represented by officials from the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, as well as the EU and Nato, in any peace talks between Ukraine and Russia.

Putin is believed to have agreed to allow European representatives to join the negotiations, which the American mediators see as key to ending the conflict.

Separately, Mr Kushner and Mr Witkoff have proposed a compromise that would see Ukraine join Nato in exchange for ceding the eastern Donbas regions to Russia.

Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, said he would consider the idea if it was submitted by the American side and backed by Nato’s European allies and Canada.

He told reporters: “If the American side confirms precisely this to us, together with other Nato partners, then I will ask our Ukrainian society what it thinks: do we accept it or no?”

Kyiv has previously asked to join Nato and come under its Article 5 mutual defence clause after the war with Russia ends, to protect it from future invasion.

But the US and Germany have blocked any serious discussions of Ukraine joining the alliance, fearing it would drag Nato into conflict with Russia.

Russia currently occupies around 80 per cent of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas regions – Donetsk and Luhansk.

Putin has said he will not stop fighting until Russia is handed the remaining land its forces have not been able to capture militarily.

These lands include Ukraine’s so-called “fortress belt”, which is the country’s main line of defence, preventing large-scale attacks in the direction of Kyiv.

Mr Zelensky said he would have to put any compromise involving trading territory for Nato membership to the Ukrainian people, arguing he could not make the decision himself.

“I, as president, will engage in an open dialogue with the public and say: ‘Look, this is where we stand, this is how all our partners have come together, and this is how they see things moving forward,'” he said.

Russia, however, has long insisted that Ukraine must not join Nato.

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