Various aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless communication. In some aspects, a remote user equipment (UE) may communicate with a network entity via a relay UE using one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages that are encapsulated in a dedicated sidelink signaling message directed to the relay UE. The UE may receive, from the network entity via the one or more RRC messages, an access stratum configuration for a sidelink unicast link between the remote UE and the relay UE. The UE may configure the sidelink unicast link based at least in part on the received access stratum configuration. Numerous other aspects are described.