The key facts
- Trump announced an agreement that 'could affect all of Europe,' while Kushner laid out principles for a 'stable security environment'
- Trump announced a deal that 'may affect all of Europe,' while Kushner laid out the principles of a 'stable security environment'
- Kaja Kallas and Johann Wadephul stated that it is Russia that is violating the security architecture
- Experts see in Moscow's push for a new architecture an attempt to expand negotiations and weaken NATO unity
- Experts see in the talk of a new architecture an attempt by Moscow to expand the negotiations and weaken NATO unity
Two words that alarmed Europe
Discussion of a 'security architecture' moved to the forefront of talks on ending Russia's war against Ukraine after US President Donald Trump announced a 'very big, beautiful agreement' that 'could affect all of Europe.' Following that, his special envoy Jared Kushner published a detailed post laying out principles for building a 'more stable and predictable security environment' on the continent. This is reported by Euronews.
The wording that provoked rejection
Kushner sidestepped the fact that Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of a sovereign, internationally recognized state, and instead placed responsibility on 'decades of distrust' and 'competing security interests' between Europe and Russia, noting that for more than 30 years the sides 'have failed to build a sustainable security system.' Europeans reacted quickly: as Euronews notes, they pointed out that it was not Europe but Russia that 'undermined' the existing architecture. EU High Representative Kaja Kallas, speaking at the G7 meeting in Paris, said: 'The only one violating this security architecture is Russia. Therefore, we must secure clear concessions from the Russian side in these talks, otherwise we will see more and more such attacks.' German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul added that Europe does not need a new architecture, 'as Russia wants us to believe,' but simply the restoration of the existing one.
Which documents have been violated
Russia's war against Ukraine, according to the assessment cited in the Euronews publication, violated, among other things, the 1975 Helsinki Accords and the 1990 Paris Charter, which underpin the OSCE; the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, which prohibits Russia from using force against Ukraine except in self-defense; and the 1997 NATO–Russia Founding Act, which guarantees the territorial integrity of 'all states.' Russia is also accused of war crimes, including the crime of aggression, in flagrant disregard of international law.
The October context and Europe's position
The collective pushback from European politicians came after the alarming events of October, when, according to Euronews, Trump struck a deal with Vladimir Putin on diesel fuel supplies, eased long-standing sanctions against Moscow, and harshly criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The rapid sequence of these steps revived fears in Europe that Trump and Putin would agree behind closed doors on Ukraine's capitulation. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, speaking in Romania, warned that 'any meaningful discussions of Europe's security architecture are possible only after a ceasefire is achieved in Ukraine,' and stressed that this must happen only with Europe at the table. Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said: 'An arrangement about the future of Ukraine and Europe made over our heads would not merely be unwise. It would be practically impossible.'
Why Moscow raises the topic of a new architecture
European officials involved in the peace process see Russia's heightened interest in the security architecture as an attempt to divert attention from the key issues of the negotiations: a cessation of hostilities and security guarantees for Ukraine. Moscow refuses a ceasefire even a temporary and limited one, opposes the deployment of Western troops in Ukraine after the war, and is stepping up airstrikes, while Putin regularly speaks of the 'root causes of the conflict' — a euphemism for NATO enlargement — and Sergey Lavrov stresses the need for a 'new security architecture' on the Eurasian continent. Judy Dempsey of Carnegie Europe believes that these talks play into the Kremlin's hands: 'This is an attempt by the Kremlin and President Trump to bypass NATO and redraw Europe's security architecture… Trump is doing Putin's bidding.' Natia Seskuria of RUSI adds that by broadening the negotiations, Moscow seeks to make Ukraine's future a secondary issue in a larger deal and to exploit disagreements in order to weaken Western cohesion. At the height of the alarm, on the eve of a new round of talks in Abu Dhabi, the United States and Europe issued a joint statement saying that 'a strong NATO will remain a central element of collective defence in the Euro-Atlantic area.'
