What claims will Putin not give up in the negotiations with Trump on Ukraine SOURCES

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has some claims he won’t give up in his Ukraine talks with Donald Trump after he takes up his second term as US president.

Specifically, Russia will demand that Ukraine drastically reduce its military ties with NATO, never become a NATO member and maintain itself as a neutral state with a limited army, sources cited by Bloomberg indicated, according to Digi 24.

Another condition for Russia would be to effectively maintain control over the 20 percent of Ukrainian territory now controlled by Russia, including the Crimean peninsula, which Russia has illegally occupied since 2014.

However, Russia would be “open” to some exchanges of territories, some of the sources claimed.

“The issue of territories is not the main issue of the conflict,” said Tatiana Stanovaia, founder of the consulting firm R.Politik and senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center. “It has a much broader context that apparently is still not fully understood in the West,” Stanovaia said. She thus referred to Russia’s opposition to Ukraine’s NATO candidacy, which she said was “unwavering.”