Ukraine warns Washington against ‘historical humiliation’

Being prepared to accept Russia’s requests to rule out NATO expansion closer to its borders would be an unprecedented loss of dignity for the US and the military bloc, Ukraine has said as tensions grow between the West and Moscow.

In an interview with RBK Ukraine published on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said he doubts American officials or the organization “will agree to Russia’s demand to stop enlarging eastwards.”

“Not only is there a call for NATO to not expand, there is also an insistence to end [its] military presence in member states,” he said. “I don’t believe that [they will accept] because to agree to such demands in any form would be the greatest humiliation of the US and NATO in history” since the bloc’s founding.

Responding to why Moscow published the proposals, Kuleba said that “diplomacy has a term – the ‘madman strategy.’ That is, to demonstrate to your partner that you are mad, ready to do anything, unpredictable, and therefore you must be approached with special pliability and tenderness.”

He went on, adding that he would not delve into the motivations of the Russians, because Kiev cannot really “get into their brains and see a detailed plan of action there.”

Kuleba’s remarks come after Moscow handed over two documents, one addressed to NATO and the other to Washington, requesting a range of guarantees it said were drawn up to boost the security of all parties.

The proposals focus on the movement of military personnel and hardware, and include a requirement that Kiev’s long-held ambitions to join the bloc will not be granted. Separately, Moscow called for NATO members to desist from any military activity on Ukrainian territory, as well as in Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus, and Central Asia.

In the draft document sent to Washington, Russia requested that officials firmly commit to ruling out the inclusion of any additional former Soviet republics in NATO.

Speaking last week to the country’s most senior military officers, Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated the need for “long-term legally binding guarantees,” but said that even these could not be trusted, arguing that the US easily withdraws from treaties that it is no longer interested in honoring.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov sounded the alarm last month, stating that “significant units and armaments from NATO countries, including American and British, are being moved closer to our borders.” He also accused Western nations of encouraging officials in Kiev to take provocative anti-Russian measures, which he warned could easily “turn into military adventures.”

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