Newly published documents from invasion's first weeks reveal Putin's plans to render post-war Ukraine powerless | Russia Matters - 4 Nov 2024 |

• RFE/RL's Russian investigative unit Systema has obtained a copy of Russia's initial proposal for a "peace agreement" with Ukraine, which the Kremlin drafted shortly after launching its full-scale war against the country in 2022
• The document consists of six pages containing the draft agreement's main text and four pages of attachments. The proposal's 18 articles touch on a wide range of issues, including requirements for Ukraine's neutrality, border placement, and humanitarian concerns such as language, religion, and history.
• The proposal was written long before Russia's annexation of four Ukrainian regions in September 2022 and does not include the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. However, it does include Russia's long-standing demand for Ukraine to fully forgo any claims to Crimea and Sevastopol as well as the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
• In the initial version of this "peace agreement," Russia also insisted on the near-total disarmament of Ukraine under Moscow's supervision, the country's isolation from Western assistance, and the long-term stationing of Russian troops on the territories captured in the war's first weeks. Some of these demands remained unchanged throughout the entire negotiations process

Read the full article at the Meduza website.

Russia and Ukraine 'close to agreeing' on neutral status, says Sergei Lavrov | The Guardian 17 March 2022 |

Unfortunately, Western war narrative prevailed with Mark Rutte being rewarded in next career step to become SG of NATO, close second in the contest was Estonian light-weight Kaja Kallas.

'I wouldn't rule out anything': Kaja Kallas on Nato fighting Russia in Ukraine | Channel 4 News - 25 June 2024 |

US tells NATO if Zelenskyy does not sign peace deal Ukraine will face worse in future | The Guardian - 22 Nov 2025 |

US officials have told NATO allies [Rutte off to Iceland] they expect to push president Volodymyr Zelenskyy into agreeing to a peace deal in the coming days, under the threat that if Kyiv does not sign, it will face a much worse deal in future.

The US army secretary, Dan Driscoll, briefed ambassadors from NATO nations at a meeting in Kyiv late on Friday, after talks with Zelenskyy and taking a phone call from the White House. "No deal is perfect, but it must be done sooner rather than later," he told them, according to one person who was present.

The mood in the room was sombre, with several European ambassadors questioning the content of the deal and the way in which the US had conducted the negotiations with Russia without keeping allies informed.

"It was a nightmare meeting. It was the 'you have no cards' argument again," said the source, referring to Trump's claim that Zelenskyy had no cards to play, during a contentious White House meeting back in February.

Russia has 'no say' over whether Ukraine can join NATO, Rutte says | Kyiv Independent - 27 Nov 2025 |

Most likely a press statement earlier in the month on Rutte's visit to NATO Geilenkirchen Air Base on November 13, 2025

NATO Secretary General visited Brunssum and Geilenkirchen, and Nordic and Baltic Allies stepped up support for Ukraine

Another article by NATO press has already been scrubbed -404-- ...

Most likely this article comes close to NATO deleted content. A bit over the top and one-sided ... hybrid warfare is NOT an one-way street.

Russia's 'permanent test' is pushing Europe to the brink of war - here's what Moscow actually wants | The Conversation - 14 Oct 2025 |

The scenes have become grimly familiar: Russian tanks rolling into Georgia in 2008, the seizure of Crimea in 2014, the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russian military jets violating European airspace, and now mysterious drone sightings closing airports across Europe.

While these may seem like disconnected events, in reality they are but chapters in a singular, focused and evolving strategy. Russia's aim is to wield military power when necessary, engage in "grey-zone" war tactics when possible, and exert political pressure everywhere. Moscow has been doing all this for decades, with one objective in mind: to redraw Europe's security map without triggering direct war with NATO.

This goal is neither improvised nor ambiguous, and at its core, it is irredentist - it seeks to reverse NATO's post-Cold War expansion, and reassert a Russian sphere of influence in Europe.

This singular focus was what governed Russia's actions in the runup to its invasion of Ukraine. In December 2021, Moscow demanded that NATO bar Ukraine and Georgia from joining the alliance, and that NATO forces withdraw to their May 1997 positions, where they were before any former Soviet states in East Europe joined Nato.

This was not a diplomatic opening gambit to the February 2022 ground invasion, but an objective in and of itself. From the Kremlin's perspective, NATO's enlargement is both a humiliation and an existential threat, and must be curbed at all costs.

[...]