The future of European security was among the topics discussed at the Kremlin on Thursday by Vladimir Putin and U.S. administration representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. The Russian leader outlined Moscow’s vision for a new European security order against the backdrop of renewed negotiations between Russia, Ukraine and the United States, recently held in Abu Dhabi.
Details of the meeting were outlined by Yuri Ushakov, the Russian president’s foreign affairs adviser. He argued that the continent’s current security system was no longer viable and called for negotiations on a new framework in which the security of all states would be regarded as indivisible.
“It is clear that the current European security system is not working. And we hope that representatives of European countries will, in turn, support efforts to agree on the parameters of a new, unified and indivisible architecture for security and peace,” Ushakov said after the talks at the Kremlin.
The Russian official recalled that Vladimir Putin had put forward similar proposals as early as 2021, when Moscow called on NATO to revert to its military posture before the Alliance’s 1997 expansion.
Ushakov said that Russia had since developed further ideas, drawing on its experience of the current conflict and what the Kremlin sees as the West’s efforts to inflict a strategic defeat on Moscow.
Putin’s adviser also commented on European countries’ efforts to secure a seat at the negotiating table on Ukraine. In his view, the Europeans need to clarify their position and decide whether they support ending the war or continuing it.
“So far, their actions point to the second option,” Ushakov said.
Despite his criticism of Europe, the Kremlin representative spoke positively about the trilateral talks held in Abu Dhabi on November 10 and 11. He noted that both the Russian and American delegations had found the meetings constructive and productive.
“Witkoff and Kushner shared their views on the trilateral meetings held in Abu Dhabi on November 10 and 11. Both we and the American side agree that these discussions were constructive and productive,” the Russian presidential adviser said, adding that negotiations would continue.
The idea of an “indivisible” security architecture is nothing new in the Kremlin’s rhetoric. In December 2021, Russia put forward a series of proposals to the United States and NATO, calling, among other things, for a halt to the Alliance’s expansion and the withdrawal of NATO’s military infrastructure from Eastern Europe.
Moscow also demanded guarantees that Ukraine and Georgia would not join NATO and proposed talks to establish a new European security framework.
Details, HERE