March 21, 2022, 3:00-4:30 p.m. CET, Zoom

3. European Strategic Dialogue

On February 24th the looming crisis in Ukraine escalated: Regular Russian troops invaded Ukraine on multiple fronts, causing death, suffering and disaster in the process. The conflict was simmering since Russia’s annexation of Crimea and Moscow’s support for two separatist regions in Eastern Ukraine in the aftermath of the regime change triggered by the Maidan protests in 2014. The President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, has trivialized this large-scale military attack on a sovereign country as a “Special Military Operation”. Even before the invasion, Vladimir Putin has sought to mislead not only the international community, but also the vast majority of the Russian people about the bloody war he was preparing.
Not only for the people in Ukraine, who now either have to fight for the security and sovereignty of their assaulted country, endure the sufferings of Russian occupation or flee from their homes to safe havens in neighboring countries, but also for people in the West Putin’s war against Ukraine constitutes "the start of a new era" (Emmanuel Macron), a “Zeitenwende” (Olaf Scholz) – times of enormous change.
The ESD is bringing together leading experts from Germany, France and the Netherlands in order to help for a better understanding of the background of the Russian attack against Ukraine, decipher the current situation in one of Europe’s largest countries and discuss how the strategic shift broad about by Putin’s war likely affect Europe’s and the World’s strategic trajectory.
 

Discussion: 

Dr. Roderick Parkes

Research Director of DGAP and Head of the Alfred von Oppenheim Center for European Policy Studies

Dr. Iulian Romanyshyn

Senior Fellow at the Center for Advanced Security, Strategic and Integration Studies (CASSIS), University of Bonn

Dr. Pierre Haroche

Research Fellow in European Security at the Institute for Strategic Research (IRSEM, Paris)

Dr. Nikki Ikani

Assistant Professor Intelligence & Security, Leiden University

Moderation:

Sophie Vériter

Doctoral Researcher, Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA), Leiden University

Cooperation partners:

Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit 

Institut français des Pays-Bas

Universiteit Leiden