... simply ceased to exist.
For several years after the collapse of the USSR, it seemed that the security dilemma in Europe had been resolved. Russia remained a major nuclear power, but was in a profound crisis. Moreover, it aspired to become part of the Western community. However, the new system soon began to falter. The key problem was its inability to be fully inclusive of Russia. NATO remained as a military alliance. Moreover, former Soviet allies, and then its former republics, began to integrate into the Alliance. The European Union increasingly became NATO’s junior partner. Simultaneously, the key normative and institutional ...
... the OSCE. The ten principles of the Helsinki Final Act of 1975 [
6
] defined the regulatory framework, including the principle of equal and indivisible security. An institutional platform for a Russia-NATO dialogue emerged in the form of the Russia-NATO Council. Another factor in normalising relations between Russia and the West was the comprehensive deepening of Russia-EU cooperation based on the 1994 Partnership and Cooperation Agreement. [
7
] Europe witnessed an act of unprecedented demilitarisation. Russia withdrew its troops from Germany and the former Warsaw Pact ...
... military planners and researchers have been exploring and modelling various scenarios involving their use.
Ivan Timofeev:
Russia-West: The Radical Scenario and Its Alternatives
It is still commonplace to believe that using nuclear weapons is unacceptable ... ... the odds of a nuclear power facing an aggression are quite low. But is it?
This question is becoming increasingly urgent for Russia considering the prospects of a possible major military confrontation with NATO or its members, or in the context of the Ukraine conflict.
There are more than enough political reasons which could lead ...
... possible use of tactical nuclear weapons at some stage of the current conflict.
However, like it was the case during the Cold War, current division of Europe does not mean that there are no common or overlapping interests pursued by the East and the West, by Russia and NATO, or Russia and the European Union. The most evident convergence of interests is in reducing risks of an uncontrolled escalation and the likely costs of the continuous political and military confrontation. In other words, both sides need, firstly,...
... nature of the Ukrainian crisis and while speaking of the record they can even criticize Russia
[12]
, their colleagues working in Russia directly blame NATO for the escalation of the Ukrainian crisis
[13]
. Such Chinese position allows China to continue playing the role of a potential mediator or peacemaker in the conflict and at the same time leads to repeated calls coming from some Western leaders
to step up pressure on Russia
[14]
.
The development of bilateral partnership during the Ukraine crisis
While ...
... bring together both NATO countries and those which did not belong to the alliance, including Russia, into a single community. But since the beginning of the 2000s, there has been a process of politicisation of the OSCE in favour of the interests of Western countries. Russia has increasingly viewed NATO expansion as a security threat. Instruments such as the Russia-NATO Council were unable to absorb the growing contradictions. The lack of effective and equal institutions that would take into account the interests of Russia and integrate it into ...
... European nations whose governments and parties did not share Soviet ideology and views. The expert also noted that the recent exercises held by Western countries in the Baltic Sea have already proven to be aggressive. The overall situation ahead of NATO’s 75th anniversary threatens the development of Russia’s relations with the West, which are nearly nonexistent anyway.
Ivan Safranchuk, Professor at the Department of International Relations and Foreign Policy of Russia of MGIMO University, stressed at the roundtable that NATO’s purpose was questioned back when the bloc was ...
... assumption that should not be put to test under any circumstances.
Ivan Timofeev:
Russia-West: Rising Stakes
What are the worst prospects and how to prevent it from happening?
Andrey Kortunov:
My worst-case scenario is that we are going to see more and more Western engagement into the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, which will ultimately turn NATO into a direct party to the conflict. Some Western leaders, like French President Emanuel Macron already entertain such an option, at least, in principle. If there is a large-scale NATO-Russia military confrontation in the center of Europe, it would ...
... most of humanity. Those of us who remember have only to recall how NATO, instead of disbanding, ignored Russia’s concerns and attempts at serious dialogue, expanded, and then illegally bombed Belgrade, ignoring the UN. That was not enough, as the West then destroyed Iraq (lying, into the bargain) and Libya, and tried to destroy Syria. Russia kept warning NATO to stop, but the latter had, and still has, no reverse gear, controlled as it is by enormous financial interests.
Greed was, and is, the order of the day. Russia’s attempts to move closer to, and even join, NATO, were cynically rebuffed, just as ...
Working paper № 69 / 2022
Working paper № 69 / 2022
The working paper explores the factors that predetermined the Western switch from divergence to convergence in the 2020s along with the key features of the commenced consolidation within the ranks of the Collective West. Is current Western unity incidental or strategic? Is it transient or long-standing? How much ...
