New Strategy Center organized a debate concerning the militarization of the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea, within the Krynica Economic Forum held in Poland
On 5 September 2017, New Strategy Center organized the debate “Militarisation of the Black and the Baltic Sea. Two Zones – A Single Problem” within the Krynica Economic Forum held in Poland, event focused on security and economic cooperation in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe.
Mr. Mustafa Aydin, Rector at Kadir Has University from Istanbul, Turkey; Mr. Oleg Barna, Deputy in the Parliament of Ukraine; Mr. Igor Korotchenko, Editor–in–Chief at National Defense Publishing House Ltd, Russia; Mr. Victor Micula, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Romania; and Mr. Grzegorz Napieralski, member of the Senate, Poland were the members of the debate that was moderated by Mr. Cosmin Ioniță, Director for research programs at New Strategy Center.
The debate highlighted the degrading security environment in the Black Sea and Baltic Sea areas, following the Russian illegal annexation of Crimea, the emergence of a new European conflict area in Eastern Ukraine and the militarization process that threatens the entire NATO Eastern Flank. The discussions have emphasized the view differences: on one side, the existence of the sovereign right of every state to decide its membership in any alliance and the need to respect the international law with the inviolability of frontiers, and on the other side, the justification of the Russian actions deriving from the need to protect the Russian ethnic subjects of other states within the former Soviet space, as well as the need to defend the security interests in the region. Also, the speakers pointed out that there is a growing risk for an accident to take place, given the increase of military presence on both sides, Russia and NATO. Such accident can easily end up as a very dangerous situation for the entire continent.
Krynica Economic Forum has been organized annually by the Institute for Eastern Studies (ISW) since 1990, this year the event being attended by more than 3.000 participants from around the world.
* A selection of pictures is available in ‘Photo/video’ section.