International Cooperation within the NATO Framework for Security in Central‑Eastern Europe

Bogusław Jagusiak The Jacob of Paradies University in Gorzów Wielkopolski, Poland Wojciech Niedbała Military University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland. International Cooperation within the NATO Framework for Security in Central‍‑Eastern Europe Summary Europe is sometimes called the “Old Continent” or the “Old World.” And even if it is now one of the most peaceful political and military regions of the world, it is an area of extremely intense discussions, considerations, plans and activities related to the security of the whole of Europe. The geopolitical location of Central‍‑Eastern Europe at the interface of the Russian Federation and NATO’s eastern flank causes a great deal of interest, espe‑ cially within the Western Civilization. It is an area of uncertainty and, despite many other threats, when we talk about threats, Europe’s eyes are turned east. Keywords: Central‍‑Eastern Europe, international security, eastern flank of NATO Introduction to the problem Central and Eastern Europe, due to its geopolitical location, is of great importance for the security not only of the countries of the region itself, but also of the whole Europe. The Russian threat changes its intensity over time, but it is always present in the post‍‑Second World War era. The Russia‍‑West relations went from strong Cold War tensions to attempts to cooperate and to find a place for the Russian Federation in the European security system (before 2014, Russia was even the main beneficiary of the NATO Science for Peace and Security Program conducted as part of NATO’s scien‑ tific and research activities, which in 2016 supported 36 research projects with a total value of EUR 12 million) 1. However, the hostile actions directed against Ukraine in 2014 explicitly revealed the attitude of the Russian Federation to cooperation with 1 Source: „Bezpieczeństwo granic Ukrainy kluczowe z punktu widzenia wschodniej flanki NATO”, http://www.defence24.pl/bezpieczenstwo‍‑granic‍‑ukrainy‍‑kluczowe‍‑z‍‑punktu‍‑widzenia‍‑wschodniej ‍‑flanki‍‑nato, published on 29 February 2016. Studia Administracji i Bezpieczeństwa nr 5/2018 the West. The annexation of Crimea was an obvious violation of the provisions of the Budapest Memorandum signed in December 1994, under which the Russian Federa‑ tion undertook to “respect the independence and sovereignty of Ukraine’s existing borders,”“refrain from the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine” with an indication that “no weapon (...) will ever be used against Ukraine”, and expressed its commitment “to refrain from economic con‑ straints aimed at subordinating to its own interests Ukraine’s implementation of the rights inherent in its sovereignty in order to achieve this benefits of any kind”2. Those and subsequent developments on the territory of Ukraine made the Russian Federa‑ tion a questionable partner in international relations. However, the fact remains that Russia poses a real threat to European countries and, first of all, to Eastern Europe. These countries, in turn, are not able to stand up to such a serious opponent individually. The only chance for effective resistance is cooperation within institutions and international alliances. Among other things, for this reason, commonly prevailing opinions about the justification of the existence and about the quality of the North Atlantic Alliance are directly proportional to the Russian threat that is perceived at the given moment. With the increase of this threat, the intensity of NATO’s activities in relation to the security of Europe increases, the frequency of NATO Summits and working meetings also increses and, most notably, NATO’s ratings are rising as an alliance needed for and guaranteeing security in Europe. At present, it is impossible to consider conlicts solely in terms of armed clashes. An equally debilitating for the opponent may be a long‍‑term action aimed at weakening it, causing economic dependence, and resulting in major possibilities to influence its political decisions and to create markets beneficial for the country undertaking such actions. Not to be missing from considerations about the security of the “eastern flank of NATO” is also the cooperation within the framework of the “Tri‍‑Sea” (Adriatic Sea, Baltic Sea and Black Sea) initiative countries and other forms of international cooperation developed as partnerships or alliances that have an element of defense cooperation. Organizations supporting decision‍‑making pro‑ cesses also have significance for the collective security system created this way. Think tanks, through creative studies and, in particular, strategic analyzes, influ‑ ence political decisions and steps taken by individual governments to ensure the security of their countries. 2 10 Source: https://larouchepub.com/eiw/public/2014/eirv41n08‍‑20140221/34‍‑35_4108.pdf [access: 10.10.2018]. Bogusław Jagusiak, Wojciech Nidbała, International Cooperation within the NATO Framework... Current geopolitical situation of Central‍‑Eastern Europe In rcent years, the security environment of Central and Eastern Europe has under‑ gone dynamic changes. Theystarted in 2014, before the NATO Summit in Wales, by the annexation of Crimea done by the Russian Federation. It had a particu‑ larly large impact on the relations between Russia and NATO which, considering previous agreements, had to react by staunch opposition, but not including allied armed forces. Therefore, the question should be asked about the current geopoliti‑ cal situation of Central and Eastern Europe and the greatest risks which this part of Europe currently has to face. This threat’s significance is best illustrated by the growth rate of defense spending in Central‍‑Eastern Europe. It amountedto 74.4 billion United States dollars in 2015, that is, more by 7.5 percent than in 2014 (see Figure 1). The problem on the eastern flank of the Alliance overlapped with the conflicts taking place on its southern outskirts: the increasing instability in Syria related to the development of the so‍‑calledIslamic State, and the uncertain situa‑ tion in Yemen, Iraq and Libya. Also the situation inside Europe has begun to deteriorate. The countries of the Old World had to face a huge wave of migration, under which only in 2015 almost 1.4 milllion refugees arrived to Europe. Terrorist attacks appeared, such as in Paris and Brussels, which proved to be threats extremely difficult to predict and prevent. However, Central‍‑Eastern Europe suffered thje least from these recent events. They are the biggest security problem in Western Europe. Figure 1. Changes in defenseexpendituresdivided into regions of the world (2014/2015) Source: SIPRI Yearbook 2016: Armaments, Disarmaments and International Security, www.sipriyear‑ book.org, p. 18, accessedon5 October 2018. 11 Studia Administracji i Bezpieczeństwa nr 5/2018 For Central‍‑Eastern Europe, the main problem now is the develop‑ mentsrelated t (...truncated)