The crisis which emerged after the Russian deployment of troops on its border with Ukraine in recent weeks has led to diplomatic discourses between the United States, Russia and NATO. The Russian Government put forward an eight-point draft treaty, the core issues of which relate to the rollback of NATO’s expansion in Eastern Europe since 1997 and Ukraine’s permanent exclusion from NATO. It is hardly likely that the Russian Government expects that NATO will return to its pre-1997 borders or that NATO would agree to officially limit its expansion, including to Ukraine. But enlightened observers have expressed the view that Russia may be prepared to accept an undertaking that Ukraine would not be admitted to NATO in the foreseeable future and the limiting of intimidatory and threatening military exercises.
