December 2021 Russian ultimatum to NATO

On 17 December 2021, during the prelude to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia published a list of demands to the West for security guarantees in the form of two draft treaties with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the United States. The proposals included a ban on Ukraine and other ex-Soviet countries from joining NATO, and a roll-back in deployments of NATO troops and weapons in Central and Eastern Europe. Russia had long been concerned with the decline in its self-regarded sphere of influence in the former Soviet republics, which were aligning themselves with the West economically and politically, and had been dissatisfied with the existing security architecture and NATO expansion. The demands, issued during a period of high tensions during which about 100,000 Russian troops were massed on Ukraine's borders, were widely seen as an ultimatum and attempt by Russia to exert pressure and influence on Western countries. The main demands were rejected by NATO and the United States on 26 January 2022; the Russian invasion of Ukraine followed one month later on 24 February.^[1]