Today, the United States, NATO, and Russia continue to severely curtail dialogue on crisis management in the Euro-Atlantic region, depriving ourselves of an essential tool to prevent an incident from turning into unimaginable catastrophe. The lack of effective and reliable crisis management dialogue and tools sharpens mistrust and undercuts progress on broader issues, including the implementation of the Minsk II agreement, Ukraine, and the US/NATO-Russia relationship.
The absence of dialogue—in particular, crisis management dialogue intended to avoid or resolve incidents that could breed escalation—severely undercuts the sustained communication essential for reaching mutual understandings on and maintaining strategic stability. Simply stated, we cannot have strategic stability without dialogue.
The challenge to the United States, NATO, and Russia is clear, and the answer compelling: Nations must begin the process of rebuilding trust so that it will again be possible to address major security challenges in the Euro-Atlantic region—as was done throughout the Cold War, and must be done today.
Statement by the Euro-Atlantic Security Leadership Group (EASLG)
Today, the United States, NATO, and Russia continue to severely curtail dialogue on crisis management in the Euro-Atlantic region, depriving ourselves of an essential tool to prevent an incident from turning into unimaginable catastrophe. The lack of effective and reliable crisis management dialogue and tools sharpens mistrust and undercuts progress on broader issues, including the implementation of the Minsk II agreement, Ukraine, and the US/NATO-Russia relationship.
The absence of dialogue—in particular, crisis management dialogue intended to avoid or resolve incidents that could breed escalation—severely undercuts the sustained communication essential for reaching mutual understandings on and maintaining strategic stability. Simply stated, we cannot have strategic stability without dialogue.
The challenge to the United States, NATO, and Russia is clear, and the answer compelling: Nations must begin the process of rebuilding trust so that it will again be possible to address major security challenges in the Euro-Atlantic region—as was done throughout the Cold War, and must be done today.
Support for Crisis Management Dialogue and Strategic Stability in the Euro-Atlantic Region, PDF
For the past four years, Des Browne, Wolfgang Ischinger, Igor Ivanov, Sam Nunn, and their respective organizations—the European Leadership Network (ELN), the Munich Security Conference (MSC), the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC), and the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI)—have been working with former and current officials and experts from a group of Euro-Atlantic states and the European Union to test ideas and develop proposals for improving security in areas of existential common interest. The EASLG operates as an independent and informal initiative, with participants who reflect the diversity of the Euro-Atlantic region from the United States, Canada, Russia, and 15 European countries.
