The key facts

  • The US has asked Russia to allow security guarantees for Ukraine modeled on NATO Articles 4 and 5, Politico reports citing sources.
  • The question may be raised at the talks in Abu Dhabi; it is unclear how the US and European allies could provide such guarantees.
  • Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier doubted that the US would be ready to formalize possible guarantees in the form of a treaty.

Request to Moscow ahead of talks in Abu Dhabi

American officials have asked Russia whether it would allow security guarantees for Ukraine to be provided under a peace agreement, modeled on NATO. This is reported by Politico, citing sources; according to the outlet, 'this remarkable request' may come up at the talks in Abu Dhabi. A Politico source relayed the wording of the request: 'We have asked the Russians to allow us to provide Ukraine with security guarantees similar to the provisions of Article 4 and Article 5, along with NATO providing the same guarantees.'

What remains unresolved

According to the Politico report, it is still unclear how the United States and European allies would be able to provide such guarantees to Ukraine. The country is expected to remain outside NATO, and the participants in the talks have not yet reached agreement on Russia's demands regarding new territories. Thus, this is a request rather than an achieved agreement: the mechanism of the guarantees themselves and their legal form remain undefined.

Washington's position on the form of the guarantees

Before the report about the request appeared, Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed doubt at a briefing about whether the United States would be ready to formalize possible security guarantees for Ukraine in the form of a treaty. According to him, this is potentially possible, but he does not know whether Washington and Kyiv have discussed the issue in sufficient detail. This diverges from the wording of the request to Russia, which references provisions modeled on Article 5 — the basis of NATO's collective defense — and underscores that even within the US administration, the degree of readiness to legally enshrine the guarantees remains unclear.