On November 16–17, 2018 in Brussels, RIAC and European Leadership Network (ELN) held the second seminar in the framework of the joint project “Towards a More Stable NATO-Russia Relationship. The first seminar was held in Moscow on July 17.
On November 16–17, 2018 in Brussels, RIAC and European Leadership Network (ELN) held the second seminar in the framework of the joint project “Towards a More Stable NATO-Russia Relationship. The first seminar was held in Moscow on July 17.
The project aims to identify specific, realistic and politically feasible steps towards sustainable containment of destabilization in Russia-NATO relations by direct participation of representatives from Russian and Western strategic communities.
The seminar was aimed at discussing three clusters of issues to mitigate destabilization factors in Russia-NATO relations:
— reducing the level of non-kinetic threats (information security and information threats);
— analysis of possible political steps to stabilize relations;
— analysis of military threats and the development of mutually acceptable measures to stabilize military threats.
The seminar was attended by leading experts of NATO countries and Russia — retired diplomats and military, former officials, representatives of think tanks and the academic community.
Andrey Kortunov, RIAC Director General; Evgeny Buzhinsky, Chairman of PIR Center, Lieutenant-General (retired), RIAC Member; Dmitry Danilov, Head of the Department of European security, RAS Institute of Europe, Professor of MGIMO, RIAC Expert; Vladimir Baranovsky, RAS Full Member, Member of the Directorate of IMEMO RAS, RIAC Member; and others, represented Russia at the event.
ELN was represented by Adam Thomson, Director, European Leadership Network, former UK Permanent Representative to NATO; General Knud Bartels, former Chairman of NATO Military Committee (Denmark); Air Marshal Sir Christopher Harper, former Director-General of the NATO International Military Staff; Ambassador Ünal Çeviköz, Former Deputy Undersecretary at the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador to the United Kingdom and Iraq; Nick Williams, Former Head of Operations for Afghanistan and Iraq, NATO International Staff; Oberst a.D. Wolfgang Richter, Senior Associate, German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP); Dr Katarzyna Kubiak, Policy Fellow, ELN; Lukasz Kulesa, Research Director, ELN; and others.
As follows from the results of expert discussions at the two seminars, a joint RIAC-ELN report with recommendations to relevant departments of Russia and NATO member countries will be prepared and presented in Moscow and Brussels.
