War in Ukraine – what now?

24 February 2022, published originally in Durch on www.raadvankerken.nl)

By Kees Nieuwerth (Vice-Chair of Church and Peace and Vice-President of National Council of Churches in the Netherlands)

Terrible news this morning!

Russia has started an invasion in Ukraine, despite all kinds of diplomatic consultations to prevent this. It is not called war, because there is no official declaration of war from Russia to Ukraine. So it is ‘just’ a (military) invasion. One that can bring many (civilian) victims with it. War in the heart of Europe −- we thought it unthinkable. The international community will have to condemn this in the strongest possible terms.

In addition, we have to put our own house in order and acknowledge that this attack is a consequence of more than thirty years of failing NATO policy. Instead of seizing the opportunity of the Cold War to end and to completely change the security architecture in Europe, NATO was expanded further and further to the east, making Russia feel threatened. And if Russia does not feel safe, as it turns out, neither do we.

Last week, the Ukraine crisis was also discussed in the UN Security Council. The African contribution to the discussion of this crisis commanded great respect. Ghana, Gabon and particularly Kenya pointed to Russia’s ‘colonial’ attitude towards Ukraine and other former Soviet republics and its tendency to want to redefine the existing borders. From the African experience, they pointed out that they too were not involved in drawing their (colonial) borders and that, as a result, peoples were divided between different nation states. However, they had come to realise that the answer to those problems was not changing borders, let alone waging war to do so, but mutual respect and international cooperation. Wise words!

Insisting on fresh negotiations

On this basis, I would like to see:

  • The UN to insisting on an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire and withdrawal of Russian troops, and calling for a return to the negotiating table.
  • The UN urgently initiating peace talks between Russia, the United States, Canada and the European Union on the recognition of the sovereignty and territorial borders of all UN member states involved in this conflict.
  • Talks starting within NATO on a moratorium on further expansion of the alliance.
  • NATO opting (finally) for the ‘Scandinavisation’ of Eastern and Central Europe: stationing neither NATO troops nor US nuclear weapons in Eastern and Central Europe. Note: this is not ‘Finlandisation’, but the Norwegian model. Because NATO member Norway is one of the few countries with a long land border with Russia, it has always refused to allow NATO troops and/or nuclear weapons on Norwegian territory in order not to provoke Russia.
  • On the basis of the above confidence-building measures, the UN calling on Russia to withdraw from parts of other UN member states, such as Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.
  • Resumption of comprehensive disarmament talks under UN auspices between NATO and Russia (plus China?)
  • Modernisation of the NATO-Russia Council leading to another Europe-wide security architecture (including Russia) in close cooperation with the OSCE and the Council of Europe.
  • A common comprehensive security policy based on the Helsinki Final Act. Note: This is still the missed opportunity of the then German Foreign Minister Genscher from the 1980s-90s proposal to bring NATO and the Warsaw Pact together.
  • The aim of these talks being therefore not only de-escalating this armed conflict in particular, but ultimately at demilitarising Europe in general.
  • On the basis of the above developments, a far-reaching shift in the spending pattern of the countries involved from military to civilian purposes by all the UN member states involved.
  • Intensifying international cooperation to jointly face the challenges of our century, in particular climate change and energy transition.