At Geneva Office of United Nations: Europe Minus Russia: 12 Months of New Reality; And What About Next 12 Months?

After several decades of cooperation, Russia and Europe again stay on different sides of the barricade. Experts speak about the Cold War 2.0. Western countries and Russia imposed mutual sanctions. There is a war in Ukraine in the center of Europe. Trust between the Russian Federation and the EU has been lost. What seemed to be an incredible anti-utopia a couple of years ago is turning to be a reality now. What are the reasons for this situation and what should be done to overcome the crisis? Is there a single possibility for Europe to develop without Russia and for Russia without Europe? The participants of the event tried to find answers to these and other questions. There were about 40 representatives of the diplomatic corps and the expert community of Geneva present.

 

The director of the Center for Political Analysis and Information Security Svyatoslav Andrianov commented on the meeting as follows,

- “Over the years, Russia was expressing its concerns on the questions of security in Europe, we were proposing to take certain steps aimed at strengthening security and good neighborly relations. Nobody listened to us or did not want to listen. Russia's proposals for the development of a new security architecture in Europe and initiatives for negotiations on European and Eurasian integration remained in Europe without consideration. Russia's position with respect to the European Union has been and remains unchanged in that we urge our partners to negotiate, and not to dictate us terms, that is, to show mutual respect”.

 

Vladimir Orlov, PIR Center Advisor, Director of Center russe d’etudes politiques, who spoke at the event with his analysis of the situation, shares the same opinion. According to Orlov, the current cooling of relations was not a surprise. The signals of Moscow’s dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs have recently become obvious.

 

 

Deputy Permanent Representative of the Republic of Poland to the UN Office in Geneva Wojciech Flera, asked a rhetorical question,

- “Yes, perhaps Europe has miscalculated somewhere. Has Russia miscalculated too?” Of course, he was right; the mistakes were made on both sides. In particular, we did not properly simulate the situation in Ukraine in the context of Viktor Yanukovych’s position.

 

Minister-councilor of the EU mission to the UN Office in Geneva Cezary Lusiński, confirmed that mutual esteem should become the main basis for the dialogue between Russia and Europe, and that Europe and Russia belong to the same cultural space. According to Lusinsky, we need to move forward solving pressing political problems.

 

The Representative of Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the International Organizations in Geneva Richard Lucas spoke at the event with a proposal to end mutual accusations, in other words to move from the position “whom to blame” to a “what to do” paradigm.