Kristi Raik, Director of the Estonian Foreign Policy Institute at the ICDS contributed to a report of Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) and the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) “Stronger Together: A Strategy to Revitalize Transatlantic Power”.
A group of European and American scholars and former government officials, led by Ambassador Nick Burns, HKS, and Daniela Schwarzer, DGAP, convened over the past year to map the crisis in the transatlantic relationship and propose ways to revive and strengthen it.
The group developed this comprehensive report, laying out an ambitious transatlantic agenda. It includes eight individual action plans: on Economics and Trade; Security and Defence; China; Russia; Climate Change and Energy; Democracy; Technology; and the Middle East and North Africa.
The action plan on Russia, authored by Kristi Raik, notes that in the foreseeable future, Russia continues to pose serious challenges to the European and international security order, democratic systems of Western countries, and cohesion of major Western organizations such as the EU and NATO. The U.S. and Europe need to tackle these challenges together and pursue a hard line vis-à-vis Russia to put limits to its malicious actions. Europe must take more responsibility for defending and protecting itself and promoting stability in its neighbourhood, but the U.S. contribution to European security, especially when it comes to countering and deterring Russia, remains indispensable. The U.S. and European allies need to continue to develop credible defence and deterrence against Russia in the framework of NATO.