Let there be war….
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/r...rope-tdklrrvdg
Russia demands Nato remove all troops from eastern Europe
Russia has demanded that Nato, America and Britain withdraw all military bases and troops from central and eastern European countries, including those within the EU.
The Russian foreign ministry published Moscow’s demands to Nato, the US and allies on “security guarantees” in return for withdrawing a
massive troop build-up on Ukraine’s border.
Russia’s demand in the form of two draft legal treaties is highly unusual in international diplomacy and is regarded as an ultimatum that threatens the existence of the western alliance and the EU.
The draft treaties call on Nato and Washington to halt any enlargement of the alliance eastwards and “not to deploy weapons and forces” where it “would be perceived by the other side as a threat to national security”.
The White House said it was discussing the proposals with European allies, adding that it “will not compromise the key principles on which European security is built”.
Demands include an incendiary call for all troop deployments in eastern Europe to be rolled back to the levels before 1997, effectively removing Nato protection from all countries that have since joined.
“Nato and the US must not station any additional military personnel or weapons outside the countries where they were stationed as of May 1997 (prior to the accession to the alliance of Eastern European countries) except in exceptional cases with the consent of Russia,” said the demands, according to the Russian RIA Novosti news agency.
Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic joined Nato in 1999, followed in 2004 by Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and the former Soviet republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
“Putin is demanding that President Biden abolish Nato,” said a diplomat from an eastern European country in the alliance. “If the West blinks then the alliance that stopped Soviet aggression and protected the peace is dead.”
Sergei Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy minister, warned that relations with Nato and the West were at a “dangerous point” and called for crisis talks with the US tomorrow in Geneva on the demands. “We are ready to immediately to go for talks with the US,” he said.
Other demands include a US commitment “not to establish military bases in former Soviet countries” or “to develop military co-operation” with countries that include the EU members Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania.
Russia is additionally demanding a ban on the deployment of Nato, US and Russian warships and aircraft to “areas where they can strike targets on the territory of the other party”.
“This is fantasy geopolitics. Putin is living in the USSR past. If he wants to be taken seriously he must engage with the reality of the present which is that Nato has enlarged,” a European diplomat said…….