Russia demanded that Finland withdraw from NATO and that the alliance abandon its military bases in the Baltic states during Ukraine peace talks with US envoys in Abu Dhabi this week.

The demands, reported by the German tabloid Bild on Friday, included that Finland leave the alliance and that NATO close its bases in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The proposals were presented unofficially during the talks, which involved US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff. Finnish Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen called the demands "absolutely outrageous" and said such matters are not up for discussion.

Häkkänen said the demands show Russia has no serious intention of engaging in peace negotiations. "Even putting forward such proposals is absolutely outrageous, and Russia knows this," he said. Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen confirmed that Finland's NATO membership is not subject to negotiation. "It is obvious that the decision on NATO membership belongs to Finland and NATO," she said. Finland joined the alliance in April 2023 and shares a 1,300-kilometer border with Russia.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied the report on Saturday, saying "I'm not aware of this. No, [such a proposal] was not put forward. It certainly wasn't discussed." But Putin's foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov confirmed that Russia would not limit itself to demanding NATO return to its 1997 borders.

The demands revive proposals Moscow made in December 2021, when it called for restrictions on NATO's military presence in Eastern Europe months before launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. According to The New York Times, Russian officials circulated a paper this week demanding NATO pull back forces from Poland and the Baltics to positions held in 1997.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas warned on Friday that Russia is attempting to draw Europe into negotiations over the continent's security architecture while sidestepping the need for a ceasefire in Ukraine. "We have one aggressor and one victim, and the aggressor does not have security concerns," she said. "If we start to talk about what Russia is asking regarding the security architecture, we actually walk into the traps that Russia is setting us."

In exchange for the security concessions, Russia offered to withdraw nuclear weapons from Belarus, refrain from deploying intermediate-range missiles there, and withdraw troops from Transnistria, according to Bild.