Europe and Russia Have to Resume Dialogue
Europe and Russia Have to Resume Dialogue
June 15, 2026
Since the beginning of the year, there have been references to the resumption of dialogue between Europe and Russia. European Council President Costa said he believed there was “potential” for the EU to discuss the future of Europe’s security architecture with Russia. President Macron said there is a need to structure the renewal of Europe’s dialogue with Russia so it does not depend on third parties. President Putin also said Russia would be willing to negotiate new security arrangements for Europe, and that his preferred negotiating partner would be Germany’s former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. So far, however, there are no concrete steps in that direction.
It is worth remembering that the US withdrew its last combat troops from Vietnam on March 29, 1973. In June of that year, Brezhnev returned Nixon’s visit. Meanwhile, Chancellor Willy Brandt’s Ostpolitik created the conditions for broader détente. Consequently, the East and the West began to discuss the idea of establishing a multilateral forum for dialogue and negotiation. After two years of talks, the Helsinki Final Act was formally signed on August 1, 1975.[i] Eventually, the process evolved into the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
What Europe and Russia need today is an update of the Helsinki Final Act.
Needless to say, the Final Act was signed under entirely different circumstances. The US was suffering the fatigue of the war in Vietnam. The USSR was experiencing low economic growth. Europe wanted its prosperity to continue under lasting security. Thus, all the signatories to the Helsinki Final Act recognized the merits of cooperation.
In 1975, the parties to the Helsinki Final Act agreed on the following, in the first article of the Act, under the title, “Sovereign equality, respect for the rights inherent in sovereignty”:
“The participating States will respect each other’s sovereign equality and individuality as well as all the rights inherent in and encompassed by its sovereignty, including in particular the right of every State to juridical equality, to territorial integrity and to freedom and political independence. They will also respect each other’s right freely to choose and develop its political, social, economic and cultural systems as well as its right to determine its laws and regulations.
“Within the framework of international law, all the participating States have equal rights and duties. They will respect each other’s right to define and conduct, as it wishes, its relations with other States in accordance with international law and in the spirit of the present Declaration. They consider that their frontiers can be changed, in accordance with international law, by peaceful means and by agreement. They also have the right to belong or not to belong to international organizations, to be or not to be a party to bilateral or multilateral treaties, including the right to be or not to be a party to treaties of alliance; they also have the right to neutrality.” (added emphasis)
Today, five decades later, there would not be much of a problem in agreeing again on the first paragraph.
The second paragraph, however, would be more than a challenge, given that the likelihood of renewed agreement on the “right to be or not to be a party to treaties of alliance” is next to zero. Today, Russia is fighting Ukraine precisely because the latter was led to believe it could join NATO. This was Ukraine’s right under the Helsinki Final Act. Unfortunately, however, that had already been reduced to bombast, no longer of any significance.
The world and the European landscape have undergone fundamental change since 1975, and the following are today’s “given”:
- The EU and Russia are on the same continent. They are neighbors.
- During the past two centuries, Russia was invaded by France under Napoleon in 1812, and by Germany in 1914 and 1941.
- Following the Second World War, the USSR, using political and military means, dominated the Eastern European, Caucasian, and Central Asian countries, giving them no freedom of action on any issue and taking military action when its authority was challenged.
- Many have seen the US’s numerous external interventions as failures. For Washington, however, the interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria are all success stories, which also served Israeli interests in a joint project to redesign the Middle East. Today’s US is still an interventionist power.
- In 1975, NATO had 15 member states. At present, the number is 32.
- The war in Ukraine is in its fifth year.
Moreover, Trump’s policies have created multiple problems for transatlantic relations. A recent survey suggests that European confidence in America’s commitment to European security has hit a historic low, with only one in 10 people across 15 countries viewing the US as an ally and majorities in all countries doubting it would come to their aid if they were attacked. The European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) survey also shows that while many Europeans felt relations with Washington would improve once Donald Trump leaves office, they are increasingly ready, in the meantime, to protect themselves against US unreliability by bolstering Europe’s defense.[ii]
Last week, there were reports that the US plans to significantly reduce the number of aircraft and warships it makes available to NATO operations in Europe.[iii] Yet, after months of negotiations, Germany and France had to end their cooperation on the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) because their companies failed to resolve their disputes.
Germany, Europe’s economic powerhouse, is suffering from economic stagnation. Russian gas and oil are no longer available. Germany, however, is undertaking massive defense investments. Europe’s growth figures are also disappointing. European countries, despite their military and political support for Ukraine, their diplomatic discourse about Russia, and their anti-Russia sanctions, will prefer a quick end to the war.
Russia, on the other hand, has suffered tens of thousands of war casualties in Ukraine. Russia is the world’s largest country with eleven time zones, and a population of only 143 million. With such high casualties, it faces manpower problems. Thus, the war in Ukraine has turned into a war of attrition with missiles and drones rather than major land operations. Despite rising oil prices, Russia faces economic challenges. Support for the war among Russians is waning.
An update to the Helsinki Final Act has to reflect the understanding that NATO expansion has reached its limit. It also has to contain a renewed and genuine commitment by Russia to the first paragraph of Article I of the Helsinki Final Act, to end its determination to dominate the countries of the Balkans, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. There would have to be military and political confidence-building measures, and an understanding on enhancing economic cooperation. As for the war in Ukraine, a ceasefire along the current battle lines could be a temporary solution, perhaps even a long-term one.
Reviving the letter and spirit of Helsinki is no easy task. Nonetheless, the options are to resume dialogue or to continue the current state of affairs, which serves neither European nor Russian interests. How would Trump react to such a development? He would embrace it as one of his MAGA projects for world peace.
A final word: The far-right and anti-migration movements are increasingly active in the West. As Europeans and Americans look to the future, they should also look to the past, to the centuries of unspeakable suffering endured by their African slaves in their “new homes.” European merchants of the transatlantic slave trade transported between 10 to 12 million enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas from the 16th to the 19th century, in addition to those taken to European colonies.[iv] The West was after slaves and Africa’s and the Middle East’s riches with endless external interventions. Today’s migrants are after escaping their long and tragic past for a minimum standard of living.
[i] https://cdn.osce.org/sites/default/files/f/documents/5/c/39501_1.pdf
[ii] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/10/only-one-in-10-europeans-now-see-us-as-an-ally-survey-suggests?CMP=share_btn_url
[iii] https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/12/world/europe/us-nato-cuts-drawdown-jets.html
[iv] https://www.britannica.com/summary/Transatlantic-Slave-Trade-Timeline
No comments:
Post a Comment