FORMATION OF A NEW EUROPEAN SECURITY SYSTEM: WITH RUSSIA OR WITHOUT RUSSIA

Nikolay Baranov Full professor /The North-West Institute of Management of RANEPA

Abstract: The European security system is facing the deepest crisis since the end of the Cold War. The European Union in modern conditions cannot effectively solve the most important European problems without involving the leading geopolitical players influencing the balance of power in the region. But if the United States is directly included through the NATO bloc in the European security system, then Russia in its status is outside the decision-making system. The Russian Federation, as a leading Eurasian power, is not satisfied with such ignorance in the current conditions on the European continent. The destruction of the security system created in the late 1980s – early 1990s, the withdrawal of the leading political players from the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles, and the Open Skies Treaty created an atmosphere of uncertainty in the European region, which increases the level of conflict and makes the situation turbulent. Internal political problems associated with the violation of human rights and an uncompromising struggle with the opposition do not contribute to the strengthening of Russia’s influence in the international arena but create new reasons for confrontation with the united West. In this situation, a significant impetus is needed for a radical revision of the relationship. However, even it will be unproductive without agreements between the Russian Federation and the United States. In accordance with the Russian Foreign Policy Concept, the strategic task in relations with the EU is the formation of a common economic and humanitarian space from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean based on harmonization and conjugation of the processes of European and Eurasian integration, which would prevent the emergence of dividing lines on the European continent. However, dividing lines are still emerging, so Russia’s inclusion in the European security system is questionable. But will the European security system be effective without Russia?

Keywords: European security system, turbulence, collective security system, security threats, geopolitical actors.