Russia’s Full-Scale Invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 Is a Vivid Confirmation of This.

It has now become clear to everyone that the norms of international law no longer work, and the world leaders who, according to the Budapest Memorandum, were guarantors of Ukraine’s security in exchange for its giving away the world’s third largest nuclear weapons arsenal, have not fulfilled their obligations.

At the same time, Russia’s aggressive foreign policy requires a response from its potential victims, and for some of them, even NATO membership is no longer a full guarantee of security.

The current realities of our time require all of us to revise the old and create new political, legal and military mechanisms of defense against armed aggression. First and foremost, the RF’s closest neighbors need protection from all the challenges and threats posed by Russia. Ukraine, which has been waging a brutal and bloody war with Russia for four years now, could share its rich experience with them. Moreover, it could initiate the creation of a new military-political alliance of states that share common security problems and are equally interested in resolving them.

In fact, the idea of creating a security association of Central and Eastern European countries is not new. There have been attempts to implement such projects as “Intermarium” in the past, but they were unsuccessful. In the context of the collapse of the current international security system and Russian’s aggressive foreign policy, the return to this idea takes on new meaning and requires greater determination and activity from the governments of the Baltic-Black Sea-Caspian-Adriatic Region to implement it.

In the last century, the idea of “Intermarium” was actively promoted by the famous Polish political and military figure Józef Piłsudski, who then received support from the leaders of other countries. Obviously, someone has to take this initiative today. Over the long years of war, Ukraine has learned the price of war and peace, and it would be logical and correct for a reputable Ukrainian military or politician to put forward the initiative to create a new military and political union of Central and Eastern European states. Today, the issue of ending the Russian-Ukrainian war and establishing lasting peace and stability in Europe is of utmost importance, and therefore the idea of creating a new project “Intermarium” looks quite natural and realistic.

Oleh Bereziuk,
Institute of Global Politics