Putin Seeks Broad Security Agreement, + Oreshnik to Berlin? By Simplicius

Has Trump accepted sphere of influence thinking? Are his tirades against Putin meant to throw off the still powerful neocons? From Simplicius at simplicius.substack.com:

Reuters ‘sources’ claim they have the scoop on the much-anticipated Russian “memorandum” for peace in Ukraine, which Russian officials have announced they were in the process of writing and presenting to the West.

If there’s any truth to the ‘scoop’, what’s interesting about the contents is that it does appear to outline a broader security architecture on the macro scale, rather than merely hairsplitting over the ‘micro’-level details of post-war troop compositions and such.

The ‘three Russian sources’ with an alleged ear in the Kremlin told Reuters that Putin’s plan includes the demand for Western powers to pledge not only that Ukraine will not join NATO, but that NATO will not expand any further eastward, which primarily only affects Georgia and Moldova at this point, since nearly everyone else has already joined:

The three Russian sources said Putin wants a “written” pledge by major Western powers not to enlarge the U.S.-led NATO alliance eastwards – shorthand for formally ruling out membership to Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova and other former Soviet republics.

Russia also wants Ukraine to be neutral, some Western sanctions lifted, a resolution of the issue of frozen Russian sovereign assets in the West, and protection for Russian speakers in Ukraine, the three sources said.

This is particularly interesting because it coincides with NYT’s latest which suggests Trump is pushing for a “19th century-style” world where US, China, and Russia divide the globe into spheres of influence.

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