Ahead of the Swiss Summit on Peace in Ukraine, we ask four members to reflect on what steps participants could agree toward peace in Ukraine?
Alexander Kmentt, Director for Disarmament, Arms Control, and Nonproliferation at the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ELN Senior Network member, writes that opponents of the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) in nuclear-armed states should stop dismissing the treaty outright. Instead, they should begin addressing the legitimate security concerns surrounding deterrence that are raised by its supporters.
Ilana Bet-El, Senior Associate Fellow at the European Leadership Network, is joined by Inna Pidluska, Deputy Executive Director of the International Renaissance Foundation in Ukraine, and Anna Kovalenko, former member of the Ukrainian Parliament and a prominent civic activist, for a lively discussion surrounding Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Ukraine’s fight to join the democratic world, and what Ukraine means to Ukrainians.
The ELN’s Policy and Impact Director, Jane Kinninmont, analyses why the deaths of Iran’s President and Foreign Minister, Ebrahim Raisi and Hossein Amirabdollahian, doesn’t necessarily represent a shift in global politics. She explains that the probable candidates to replace Raisi are likely to endorse a continuation of current Iranian foreign policy, and any changes will be hard to notice for external observers.
As debate around UK defence policy increases ahead of a general election, a new survey of defence and foreign affairs opinion makers explores how the UK can help get the world back on a path to nuclear disarmament and offers 50 proposals to the UK government.
Ahmet Üzümcü, Senior Network member and former Director General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) during the elimination of Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile, outlines the steps the international community can take to investigate allegations of chemical weapons use by Russia in Ukraine.