NATO-Russia talks on Ukraine end in stalemate, leaving 1 more bout of negotiations

Russian and NATO ended four hours of talks over Ukraine with no resolution on Wednesday, in the second round of high-stakes discussions in Europe aimed at preventing Moscow from invading Ukraine again. The U.S. and Russia held bilateral talks in Geneva on Sunday and Monday, and Ukraine will enter the talks for the first time on Thursday, when Russian diplomats sit down in Vienna with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Ukraine is a member of the OSCE but not NATO, yet.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has amassed about 100,000 troops on the Ukraine border, is demanding that NATO guarantee Ukraine and Georgia never join the alliance. Moscow is also seeking "the removal of all NATO military infrastructure installed in Eastern European countries after 1997, effectively attempting to rework the consequences of the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991, which left Russia weakened for years," The Washington Post reports.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said after Wednesday's meeting in Brussels that all 30 members of the security alliance agreed that NATO "cannot discuss some core principles" on Russia's orders, notably the bloc's "open door" policy, which holds that countries should decide their own foreign policy and geopolitical alliances. He said the Russians were noncommittal about NATO's counterproposal for more talks on arms and troop limits.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"There is a real risk of a new armed conflict in Europe," Stoltenberg said. "We are clear-eyed. So we also conveyed a message to Russia that if they use military force there will be severe consequences; economic sanctions; political sanctions."
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said Russia's stated fears about its own security don't make sense, given that "they are a powerful country" with a vast nuclear arsenal and a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. "The fact that they feel threatened by Ukraine," which is none of those things, "is hard to understand," she said.
"Other officials and diplomats said that Russia used the session in part to air a litany of old grievances, including over NATO's involvement in the war in Yugoslavia in the 1990s, and also its air bombing campaign in Libya in 2011 that contributed to the death of the dictator Moammar Gadhafi," Politico Europe reports. "Stoltenberg said that NATO allies from the former Yugoslavia had pushed back directly against the Russian allegations."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
A tall ship adventure in the Mediterranean
The Week Recommends Sailing aboard this schooner and exploring Portugal, Spain and Monaco is a 'magical' experience
-
How drone warfare works
The Explainer From Ukraine to Iran, it has become clear that unmanned aircraft are rapidly revolutionising modern warfare
-
The tourist flood in the Mediterranean: can it be stemmed?
Talking Point Finger-pointing at Airbnb or hotel owners obscures the root cause of overtourism in holiday hotspots: unmanageable demand
-
Canadian man dies in ICE custody
Speed Read A Canadian citizen with permanent US residency died at a federal detention center in Miami
-
GOP races to revise megabill after Senate rulings
Speed Read A Senate parliamentarian ruled that several changes to Medicaid included in Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" were not permissible
-
Supreme Court lets states ax Planned Parenthood funds
Speed Read The court ruled that Planned Parenthood cannot sue South Carolina over the state's effort to deny it funding
-
Trump plans Iran talks, insists nuke threat gone
Speed Read 'The war is done' and 'we destroyed the nuclear,' said President Trump
-
Trump embraces NATO after budget vow, charm offensive
Speed Read The president reversed course on his longstanding skepticism of the trans-Atlantic military alliance
-
Trump judge pick told DOJ to defy courts, lawyer says
Speed Read Emil Bove, a top Justice Department official nominated by Trump for a lifetime seat, stands accused of encouraging government lawyers to mislead the courts and defy judicial orders
-
Mamdani upsets Cuomo in NYC mayoral primary
Speed Read Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani beat out Andrew Cuomo in New York City's Democratic mayoral primary
-
Supreme Court clears third-country deportations
Speed Read The court allowed Trump to temporarily resume deporting migrants to countries they aren't from