The forthcoming NATO summit gave opportunity to present and discuss the recently published report "Ensuring Deterrence against Russia: The View from NATO's Front-Line States" together with its co-authors Miles Pomper and Egle Murauskaite.
The closed expert meeting organized by the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the Euro - Atlantic Association was attended by journalists and experts from the Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM), the National Centre for Strategic Research Agenda (NCSS), Collegium Civitas, Euro-Atlantic Association (SEA), PAUCI Foundation, the National Security Bureau (BBN), and "Polityka Insight”.
Focusing on the key results of the study, M. Pomper and E. Murauskaite put emphasis on various questions related to nuclear issues and the general perception of threats, which consequently have developed the regional specific of political culture regarding security and a comparably low level of interest in nuclear weapons in European countries bordering Russia.
During the debate, the expert group shared their views and agreed on main assessments, in particular - on their perception of Russia as a geopolitical threat, concerns of the role of the United States within NATO, which should act as a superpower and demonstrate its leading role. However, its commitment arouse doubts related to the upcoming presidential elections as well as the poor communication and, to some extent, the prevalent dissonance between EU member states and the US. In contrary to the assumptions of the research team concerning a general reluctance to expand the armed forces, namely nuclear in Europe, most of the group stressed that Poland supports - yet with restrictions - nuclear forces, and that it is ready to invest into armaments industry.
We invite you to read the report in English, which was the starting point of the discussion. The report examines the perception of Moscow by governmental and non-governmental experts from the six member states of NATO in the immediate vicinity of Russia. It is based on interviews conducted by the team of James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies with the financial support of the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Washington.