A new security architecture for Europe? Russian proposal and western reactions

Abstract:

After the disbandment of the Warsaw Pact in 1991, Russia pinned its hopes on the dissolution of NATO and on the OSCE becoming the major regional security organisation in the Euro-Atlantic area. However, taking advantage of Russia’s weakness, NATO went through several enlargement rounds, even incorporating parts of the former Soviet Union. As of late 2009, Russia had recovered and considers that the era of unipolarity was giving way to a “polycentric international system”. The war in Georgia and the financial crisis had demonstrated that sufficient critical mass has been achieved to transform the international system. Russia was proposing to fix de jure the political commitments undertaken within the OSCE and the NATO-Russia Council. Russia wanted a legally binding document, a European Security Treaty. The question was to what extent this was in the interest of the West?