I don't think Russia is going to agree to that.
But maybe the EU is adopting Trumpian negotiating tactics: Ask for the moon and stars and accept the moon as an improvement on your current position.
The other interpretation is that the EU doesn't actually want peace in Ukraine which will lead to a lot more blood and treasure needed to feed the beast.
From the Kyiv Post, February 19:
An internal EU paper circulated by Kaja Kallas calls for a ban on Russian military deployments in Belarus, Georgia, Armenia and Moldova’s Transnistria as part of any comprehensive Ukraine settlement.
The European Union is demanding that Russia withdraw its troops not only from Ukraine but also from Belarus, Georgia, Armenia and Moldova’s breakaway Transnistria region as part of any comprehensive peace deal.
The proposal is outlined in an internal discussion paper distributed to EU member states by the bloc’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, and seen by RFE/RL. The document is set to be discussed by EU ambassadors on Tuesday, Feb. 17, and may be debated further by foreign ministers on Feb. 23.
The document sets out what Brussels believes Moscow must concede in ongoing US-mediated negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.
Ban on Russian military presence
The paper calls for a “ban of Russian military presence and deployments in Belarus, Ukraine, Republic of Moldova, Georgia and Armenia,” as well as the removal of any nuclear weapons from Belarus.
Russian forces have long been stationed in Georgia’s breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, in Moldova’s Transnistria, at bases in Armenia, and in Belarus, which served as a launchpad for the 2022 invasion.
The document argues that if Ukraine is asked in negotiations to limit troop levels or demilitarize certain areas, Russia should face comparable obligations.
It also rejects any “de jure” recognition of occupied Ukrainian territories and calls for their demilitarization.EU seeks seat at the table
Neither the EU nor its member states are formally represented in the US-led negotiations....
....MUCH MORE
The EU could have bought a seat at the table had they supplied Ukraine back in 2022. Or 2023. Or 2024.
Instead we got the half-a-loaf/permawar approach we were decrying as early as April 2022. Here are a couple posts from those days:
August 1, 2022None of the electorate in the NATO countries voted for another of these inconclusive, forever wars, so profitable for a select few and so costly in life and treasure for regular people. Surely no one in the developing nations signed on to pay for sanctions with their food budget. It is time to figure out a) What our goals are and b) What the hell we are doing, period and in furtherance of those goals. This isn't some game of RISK with let's try this, or let's try that and no consequences at the end of the night. Since the Maidan coup in 2014 the West has had eight years to plan for this.
Do it or don't do it; because trying to finesse a halfway reaction is nuts.
As the philosopher asked the generals and armaments producers some time ago:"When was the last time you b****es won a war?"
"No holidays for Ukraine: Financial needs increase"
The EU has to either go all-in or call a halt to what they are currently doing.December 21, 2023This halfway stuff does not work for anyone but the arms merchants and is just plain evil in terms of lives lost and livelihoods ruined. As the BSD's used to say: "Go big or go home."....
Industrial Disease: "The U.S. Can Afford a Bigger Military. We Just Can’t Build It"
For at least six months after it became apparent the Western strategy for Ukraine was to dribble enough armaments into the battle to slow the Russian takeover of the eastern third of Ukraine, but not enough for Ukraine to win, we were posting on this weird approach to war....
Oh My God, What Are The Ukrainian Generals Doing?
They are ordering their men to attack defense-in-depth without air cover and 1/10th the artillery the troops need....
The U.S. Is Implementing The RAND Corporation Strategy To Cripple Russia
First up, a refresher, from February 8, 2022 (pre-invasion):
The RAND Corporation Blueprint For Forcing Putin To Over-Extend Himself
I hope that the U.S. or NATO or whoever commissioned this study didn't pay a lot for it, it's basically the strategy that Pope John Paul II, Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan came up with in the early 1980's although the details do differ. The tactical components of the RAND plan are:
1. Arming Ukraine ;
2. Increase support for jihadists in Syria;
3. Promoting regime change in Belarus;
4. Exploiting tensions in the South Caucasus;
5. Reducing Russian influence in Central Asia;
6. Rivaling the Russian presence in Transnistria.
....MUCH MORE
The study is from 2019, its basic idea is to get Russia to overextend itself both militarily and more especially financially.
On January 12, 2022 Victoria Nuland showed this approach is top-of-mind in the Biden Administration. From Interfax Ukraine:
Nuland: I'm going to let Russians speak for themselves how long they can financially back placement of troops near Ukraine
U.S. Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland did not make assumptions about how long the Russian Federation can afford to keep a large grouping of forces near Ukraine.
"I am going to let the Russians speak for themselves," she said, answering a question at a State Department briefing about "how long you think Russia can financially back the placement of troops along the Russia-Ukrainian border."
Nuland also said the transfer of a large group of forces to the border with Ukraine was not a cheap operation.
"These kind of deployments, hundred thousand troops out of barracks and on the Ukrainian border are extremely expensive, as is the deployment of this kind of weaponry in the cold winter," she said.
The U.S. goal is not peace in Ukraine.
The U.S. goal is regime change in Moscow, and in furtherance of that objective the U.S. is ready to fight to the last Ukrainian.
