Russia’s ongoing military assaults on Ukraine follow a familiar pattern of arbitrary aggression against its neighbours: the 2008 invasion of Georgia, the 2014 annexation of Crimea and other destabilizing efforts in Europe, including relentless election interference and an all-out information war against democratic societies. This is a dramatic assault on the basic principles of the European security order and on the Europe – whole, free and at peace – that replaced the Cold War order a generation ago.

Russia’s aggression is crystallizing a dangerous precedent whereby territorial conflicts are designed, orchestrated, and resolved using brute force leading to the potential contagion of war around the world. Russian recent actions are not limited to Ukraine: the steady and significant build-up of forces in Belarus, the escalation of disinformation efforts in Europe as well as repeated violations of territorial waters and airspace of Sweden and the Baltic states by Russian military units point clearly to a wider effort by Russia to challenge the security architecture in Europe. Russia’s current aggressive actions will result in an unnecessary and protracted long-term conflict, casting a dark lingering shadow on the security architecture in Europe. This timely expert discussion will address the consequences of Russia’s illegal action against Ukraine, its immediate neighbourhood, and the broader world and the way forward from here. How can we immediately support Ukraine? What should European allies do to stop and deter continued Russian aggression?

Participants:

Charles Powell, Director, Elcano Royal Institute
Ivan Miklo, a former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of the Slovak Republic, a former Chief Economic Advisor to the Ukrainian Prime Minister
Alessandro Minuto-Rizzo, ISPI senior advisor, a former Deputy Secretary General, and interim Secretary General of NATO

Led by: Alena Kudzko, Vice President of GLOBSEC & Director, GLOBSEC Policy Institute, Slovakia