Dear CCI Friends,
Many CCI travelers who visited Russia after 2014 were fortunate to meet Dr. Vladimir Kozin while in Moscow. Dr. Kozin was one of the “Russia experts” the CCI groups were exposed to before setting off on their individual treks to various parts of the country – for most of them their first ever experience of Russian culture, history and geopolitics from a Russian point of view. Dr. Kozin’s extensive CV is available online and includes his membership in the Russian Academy of Military Science.
Speaking of the disappearance of most of the nuclear arms treaties agreed between Russia and the United States over the prior forty years, and of the expansion of NATO to Russia’s borders, Dr. Kozin made the point that Russia was feeling decidedly insecure. Further, he pointed out that if the security of one country made the country next door insecure, then the entire neighborhood should be nervous. Oddly perhaps, this simple-enough truism was quite new to some in attendance, amounting to what an old friend used to call an authentic “BGO – a blinding glimpse of the obvious.” Dr. Kozin went on to explain the need for a ‘security architecture’ for Europe that included Russia so that everyone could sleep peacefully at night. It seemed obvious enough.
Or not. A decade later the concept is still alien to many and as a result, a deadly, bloody, catastrophically destructive war is grinding on in Ukraine. For anyone not yet lucky enough to be hit by a BGO on the subject, Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia’s new Permanent Representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the OSCE, in an interview with Glenn Diesen makes the same point. It’s rather difficult to imagine an European organization advocating for security and cooperation with Russia in today’s atmosphere and Mr. Polyanskiy appears rather despondent. Small wonder.
https://glenndiesen.substack.com/p/dmitry-polyanskiy-peace-requires
Still on the subject of security, CCI is taking note of the anniversary last week, on January 27, of the lifting of the siege of Leningrad in 1944. Nervousness was not the primary concern of Leningraders living or trying to live through the 872 days of the siege – avoiding death via bombs, artillery shells or starvation, day-by-day, in real time, at the hands of the Germans, was. Nearly one million of them perished. Trading that experience for an incoherent case of the jitters such as the EU states are suffering today would have been a luxury.
Can there by any doubt the Russians deserve a seat at the table when European security is discussed?
As always, your thoughts are greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Paula Day
The Center for Citizen Initiatives