US Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman, Republican Tom Cotton, has stated that further negotiations with Russia on ending the war are pointless. According to him, the Kremlin's demands for the withdrawal of NATO troops from their own borders indicate that Moscow has no intention of negotiating peace. The senator wrote this on Saturday, November 14, on his social media page on X.
"An absurd demand"
Cotton called Russia's condition—that NATO countries must withdraw their troops from territories adjacent to their own borders—absurd. "The withdrawal of NATO countries' troops from their own borders is an absurd demand by Russia," he emphasized. According to the senator, such a condition has no logical justification and contradicts the basic principles of the Alliance's collective security.
"Further negotiations are a farce"
Commenting on the progress of the peace process, the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee stated that Vladimir Putin "has once again proven that he does not intend to take peace negotiations seriously." "At this point, further negotiations are a farce," Cotton wrote. In his conviction, the Russian leader will only agree to stop the war when he realizes that he cannot win, and that is why, the senator believes, it is necessary to help Ukraine prove this.
Context: Moscow's demands at negotiations
Cotton's statement came amid reports that Russia, during trilateral negotiations in Abu Dhabi, once again demanded "the return of NATO to its 1997 borders" under the guise of discussing a "new security architecture." As The New York Times reported, Moscow put forward demands from 2021 concerning the return of the Alliance's borders to the 1997 state, which implies the withdrawal of NATO troops, in particular from Poland and the Baltic states. Earlier, the German publication Bild reported that during the negotiations, Russia also demanded Finland's withdrawal from NATO and the Alliance's renunciation of a number of obligations.
Washington's position
Cotton's remarks reflect the hardline stance of some American lawmakers who believe that continued pressure on Ukraine and the demonstration of its ability to resist are the key to ending the conflict. The senator directly linked the prospect of peace negotiations to the military situation on the front lines, stating that the US must help Ukraine ensure that Moscow realizes the impossibility of its victory.
