New European Security Realities Following the War in Ukraine

On 30 November 2022, RUSI, in partnership with the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and Estonian Ministry of Defence (MoD), held a roundtable on the future of European security following Russia’s war against Ukraine. The purpose of the roundtable was to facilitate discussions between Estonian and UK officials and experts on preliminary lessons identified from the war for European security and specifically the areas on which Estonia and the UK can continue to cooperate to enhance the security of Europe.

The speakers were senior UK and Estonian government officials with significant experience in foreign and defence policy, alongside experts on Russian foreign and military policy. The first session considered lessons identified at the political, strategic, operational and tactical levels of warfare. The second session focused on options for better managing Russia in the future and what changes to the European security architecture might be required (see Annex for discussion points). This report contains a non-attributable summary of the discussions.