Russian negotiators have put forward sweeping demands during talks in Abu Dhabi on ending the war in Ukraine, including a call for Finland to leave NATO and a ban on alliance military bases in the Baltic states, the German newspaper Bild reported on Friday.
Bild said the informal proposals were shared with European representatives and would redraw Europe’s security arrangements wholesale. The Kremlin has denied the account, and Bild stressed the document is only one of several unofficial drafts, with no confirmation that President Vladimir Putin has endorsed it.
FAKTA
- The report: Bild reported on 13 November 2026 that Russian negotiators presented the proposals in Abu Dhabi, calling them a plan for a “new European security order”.
- Finland: Finland would leave NATO and return to its pre-membership status; it joined in April 2023, after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
- The Baltics: No NATO military bases would be deployed in Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania.
- Ukraine: Russia would keep all occupied territory and take the entire Donbas; Ukraine would stay permanently non-aligned, ruling out NATO membership but leaving EU membership open.
- Ports: Odesa and Mykolaiv would be demilitarised and barred as naval bases, with passage through the Black Sea and Baltic Sea guaranteed.
- Moldova: A federated state of Moldova, Transnistria and Gagauzia, with independence referendums for the breakaway regions if Moldova joined the EU.
- Concessions: Moscow reportedly offered to withdraw nuclear weapons from Belarus and stop deploying intermediate-range missiles there.
- The denial: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected the report, saying no such conditions had been put forward.
What Moscow is said to be seeking
Russia would retain every part of Ukraine it now holds and gain the whole of Donbas, including the parts of Donetsk and Luhansk still under Kyiv’s control. Ukraine would accept permanent neutrality, giving up its NATO ambition, although the door to EU membership would stay open. Demilitarising Odesa and Mykolaiv would strip Ukraine of Black Sea naval bases; the Moldova plan would reshape another country’s constitution. The Belarus nuclear offer is the clearest concession, suggesting a draft rather than ultimatums.
Why Finland and the Baltics matter
Finland shares a border of more than 1,300 kilometres with Russia and spent decades outside military alliances before joining NATO in April 2023. An exit would reverse one of the war’s most significant consequences. A ban on alliance bases in the Baltics would likewise limit NATO’s footprint on Russia’s north-western flank. For more international coverage, visit Watan News.
What remains unconfirmed
No government has confirmed the report, and Bild noted that competing drafts are circulating. No official in Helsinki, the Baltic capitals, NATO headquarters, Moscow or Kyiv has backed the account beyond Peskov’s rejection. The Abu Dhabi meetings on 10 and 11 November brought together Russia, the United States and Ukraine, with European officials outside the main sessions. The sides agreed in principle on a prisoner exchange, but not on the main issues. Until an official text appears, the Bild account remains an unverified glimpse of one side’s opening position.
