On Wednesday 25th March 2009, Oksana Antonenko, IISS Senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia, and Bastian Giegerich, IISS research fellow for European Security, spoke on “Rebooting NATO-Russia Relations".
The August 2008 war between Russian and Georgia exposed how dysfunctional Russia –NATO cooperation had become. But rather than lament the failure of cooperation, NATO leaders should use this opportunity to fundamentally reassess their goals and strategy to engage Russia and develop a new pragmatic approach that stresses mutually beneficial problem-solving.
The war between Russia and Georgia has reset NATO–Russia relations; it is high time to think about how to reboot them.
Oksana Antonenko's current work focuses on Russian foreign and security policy, security challenges in the North and the South Caucasus, Central Asia and Ukraine. In 2004-2006 Ms. Antonenko headed track two mediation project for the resolution of the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict.
Bastian Giegerich is currently working on a European Commission supported research project which analyses future European security trends. He has worked extensively on the issue of European military capabilities, both in the context of NATO and the European Union.
This meeting took place on the fifth floor at Arundel House, 13-15 Arundel Street, Temple Place, London WC2R 3DX.
