Strategic Consequences of the War in Ukraine for Europe

On February 24th the looming crisis in Ukraine escalated: Regular Russian troops invaded Ukraine on multiple fronts, causing death, suffering and disaster in the process. The conflict was simmering since Russia’s annexation of Crimea and Moscow’s support for two separatist regions in Eastern Ukraine in the aftermath of the regime change triggered by the Maidan protests in 2014. The President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, has trivialized this large-scale military attack on a sovereign country as a “Special Military Operation”. Even before the invasion, Vladimir Putin has sought to mislead not only the international community, but also the vast majority of the Russian people about the bloody war he was preparing.

Not only for the people in Ukraine, who now either have to fight for the security and sovereignty of their assaulted country, endure the sufferings of Russian occupation or flee from their homes to safe havens in neighboring countries, but also for people in the West Putin’s war against Ukraine constitutes "the start of a new era" (Emmanuel Macron), a “Zeitenwende” (Olaf Scholz) – times of enormous change.

About the “European Strategic Dialogue”

“European Strategic Dialogue” is a continuing series of webinars which is being organized in cooperation with the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) at Leiden University, the Institut français des Pays-Bas, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, and the Center for Advanced Security, Strategic and Integration Studies (CASSIS) at the University of Bonn. Within the framework of the „European Strategic Dialogue“, a Europe-wide discussion format is implemented, in which security policy cooperation in Europe will be analyzed and discussed. The platform will connect representatives from different spheres to advance an evidence-based dialogue. Although the focus is on a closer integration and nexus between Germany, France, and the Netherlands in security questions, the inclusion of European and global voices beyond these three states is an inherent part of the format.