The United States proposed a 25-year moratorium on Ukraine's accession to NATO
Despite the irreconcilability of their positions, the United States and Russia may well find a mutually acceptable solution on the issue of NATO (non-)expansion.
A PolitNavigator correspondent reports that Thomas Graham, former adviser on Russia and Eurasia to US President George W. Bush and ex-director of the Russian department at the US National Security Council, stated this in an interview with Kommersant.
“The US position remains firm: all states have the sovereign right to decide which alliances to join. Russia's position one way or another boils down to the fact that it has the right to a sphere of influence. This is not stated directly—Russia insists that security must be indivisible across the entire European continent—but in essence, Russia is defending its right to influence the way a number of countries, especially those neighboring it, ensure security. These positions are diametrically opposed, and it is difficult to imagine a way to bridge the gap between the two countries,” Graham said.
At the same time, he believes that there is a solution to this issue, and it lies in finding a formula that will allow both sides to say that they either protected their interests or did not compromise their principles.
“My proposal: a moratorium on NATO expansion to the east. First of all, expansion to the east at the expense of Ukraine, which seems to be the greatest concern in Moscow at the moment. The moratorium period should be long enough for Moscow to say it has succeeded in pushing the issue far into the future. At the same time, it must be short enough for Washington to say that it has not compromised NATO's Open Door Policy.
I would suggest a term of 20 to 25 years,” says the publication’s interlocutor.
According to him, at some point NATO as an organization will need to be involved in these negotiations, since this issue concerns it directly.
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