Monthly Mind December 2009: No need to fear Medvedev!

The Russian initiative for a European Security Treaty deserves to be the subject of serious debate.  

Since the spring of 2008 the Russian plans for a new European security architecture have been under discussion. President Medvedev’s proposal for a new European Security Treaty now provides us with a concrete text for the first time.  

The initiative is an expression of Russia’s dissatisfaction with the institutional structure of NATO, OSCE, the United Nations and the European regulatory structures on the whole. Russia has felt itself to be marginalized in Europe for quite some time. Joint institutions of Western Europe and Russia, such as the OSCE or the NATO-Russia Council, have regrettably lost some of their operational significance. The initiative for a European Security Treaty also gives expression to the fact that Russia sees itself as part of Europe and wants to establish and guarantee a common security policy. The Russian proposal deserves an honest response. A brusque rejection of the proposals would only play into the hands of anti-western forces in Russia who claim that the West is principally unwilling to cooperate with Russia.

However, giving serious consideration to the proposal put forward by President Medvedev does not mean that the Russian initiative and its goals should not be subjected to critical scrutiny. Several aspects of the draft deserve support. Other aspects, however, are inacceptable or need to be comprehensively reviewed. And this is precisely the task of discussions and negotiations.

What is unclear, for example, is the relationship that this pact should have to the existing European and Euro-Atlantic treaties or institutions. According to the draft not only all Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian states "from Vancouver to Vladivostok" should be able to become members, but also the European Union (EU), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), NATO and also the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Yet, what remains largely unclear is how the tasks are to be distributed and how the competencies are to be demarcated. The same applies to formulations that state that no contractual party is permitted to take action nor participate in or support such action, if it "significantly" impacts the security of another party to the contract. Does this point in the direction of a far-reaching Russian right of veto? Moreover, would the obligation arising out of this treaty have stopped Russia from marching into Georgia during the Russia-Georgia crisis?

Under no circumstances should Art. 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty be called into question. Nor should this treaty impede the absolute freedom of individual European states to choose their own alliances.  These and other questions must be clearly sorted out.  

However, a sustainable new security architecture cannot be created by a new treaty alone. A system of collective security is not able to function without the necessary degree of reciprocal trust. Hence, trust-building measures will play a very important role. Trust presupposes that everybody is willing to define European security in win-win categories. Regrettably, it is not only in Moscow that the "old way of thinking" is still wide-spread to this day, according to which, for example, any advantage to NATO is automatically considered to be a disadvantage to Russia.

The Russian proposals for a common security architecture will not be taken seriously by some European states for as long as Russia allows military exercises to take place in Belarus at the borders to Poland and Lithuania, for example, or fails to do anything about overcoming its tense relationship with Georgia.

The initiative of the Russian president could become a catalyst for a new phase in the relationship between Russia and the West. We should courageously embrace this opportunity and show Russia our willingness to openly discuss this initiative. 

A slightly adapted German version ("Keine Angst vor Medwedew!") has been published in the Tagesspiegel on November 19, 2009.