The Central and East European Coalition (CEEC) released the following statement in response to the efforts by Belarus President Alexander Lukashenka to destabilize the country’s borders with its NATO and EU member neighbors. The statement was issued in coordination with the CEEC’s Canadian partners, the Central and East European Council in Canada.
EANC is a founding member of the CEEC, which was established in 1994. Its member organizations cooperate in calling attention to issues of mutual concern, especially regarding U.S. policy toward central and eastern Europe.
Estonian American community members are invited to contact their Members of Congress to share thoughts on U.S. policy relevant to the situation.
The Central and East European Coalition (CEEC) hosted an online policy event on October 21st to highlight the Kremlin’s ongoing violations of international norms and look at how the United States, along with its allies and partners, should determine and impose effective consequences on the Putin regime to safeguard transatlantic security. The context framing the discussion included the recent Zapad 2021 Russian military exercise, Russia’s persistent presence in Belarus and Ukraine, the NATO summit and President Biden’s meeting with President Putin in June, and the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and its political implications. Three speakers shared their expertise and policy recommendations for addressing the threats posed by these and other examples of bad behavior by the Kremlin. The event was moderated by Executive Vice President of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, Michael Sawkiw.
Elisabeth Braw led off the discussion with recorded remarks. Ms. Braw is a journalist and defense analyst. She is currently a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where she specializes in the challenges of rising national security threats, particularly in the form of hybrid and gray zone warfare. She is also a columnist for Foreign Policy, where she writes on national security and the global economy. Her full profile is available at www.aei.org/profile/elisabeth-braw.
Ms. Braw noted that the threat to national security goes beyond disinformation with the intent to target and harm democracy in Western nations, and that this threat is nothing new. The innovation in the types of threats coming from Russia and Belarus is new, which is illustrated perhaps most acutely in the weaponization of migrants on the border between Belarus and Lithuania, and China’s offensive use of hostages for coercion. These new means of exercising political agendas are unpalatable and unthinkable to liberal democracies, creating an ongoing challenge to predict what might come next. If we do try to predict, we will always be one step behind. She therefore recommended that target nations create more resilience to whatever comes next so that whatever it is, it will have limited effect.
Speakers clockwise from upper left: Elisabeth Braw, Konrad Muzyka, moderator Michael Sawkiw, Alex Tiersky
The next two speakers were live panelists. The first was Konrad Muzyka, an experienced independent defense analyst and the Director of Rochan Consulting, a Polish-based defense firm that provides consultancy services on the Russian and Belarusian military capabilities and objectives in the East-Central European region. His full biography is available at icds.ee/en/autor/konrad-muzyka.
Mr. Muzyka presented a detailed report on Zapad 2021. Zapad is Russia’s major military exercise in the western part of the country that takes place every four years. This year’s exercise scenario made clear that Russia continues to consider NATO as its primary opponent, particularly in recent years for NATO’s tacit support of regime change in Belarus. The exercise showed that Russia will maintain its forces in Belarus for as long as necessary and that Belarus serves as a main forward logistical hub in range of NATO territory. While analysis of the exercise will be ongoing for several months, these preliminary observations indicate that the traditional military threat from Russia remains even while the Kremlin’s development of hybrid tactics evolve.
Alex Tiersky finished off the panel presentations. Mr. Tiersky is a national security and foreign affairs expert with extensive experience in policy analysis, with specific areas of focus including transatlantic relations, arms control, diplomatic operations, and foreign policy legislation. He currently is the Senior Policy Advisor and Global Security and Political-Military Affairs Advisor for the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), also known as the U.S. Helsinki Commission. More information on Mr. Tiersky and the CSCE is available at www.csce.gov.
Mr. Tiersky provided an overview of the Helsinki Commission’s role as an independent commission of the U.S. Federal Government to monitor compliance with the Helsinki Accords and advance comprehensive security through promotion of human rights, democracy, and economic, environmental, and military cooperation among the accords’ 57 participating nations. He stressed that the CSCE’s mandate receives very real bipartisan support. While the U.S. foreign policy apparatus may have “parked” Russia to deal with other issues, the Kremlin’s military aggression and encroachment on sovereignty in Ukraine and Georgia, and buildup throughout the region, cannot be ignored. It is important to maintain policies such as shoring up NATO’s defenses to ensure it remains a credible deterrent, support to Ukraine’s and Georgia’s ability to defend themselves, and keeping NATO’s door open to new members. He noted that the Helsinki Final Act guarantees the sovereignty of nations to choose their alliances. Moscow agreed to its terms when the Soviet Union signed on in 1975 and the Putin regime should be held accountable for its violations of the accords. He ended his remarks by stressing the importance of constituent participation in advocating for policies that uphold the CSCE’s work.
Please see the full video of the webinar, posted at ceecadvocacy.org. This summary did not capture the full impact of the speakers’ messages and watching the full event is highly recommended. The CEEC holds two to three policy events per year and looks forward to planning its next event in early 2022.
The Maryland Estonia Exchange Council (MEEC), which facilitates sister state and sister city relationships between Maryland and Estonia, has ramped up its activities this fall with COVID restrictions easing. Estonia’s envoy to the U.S., Ambassador Kristjan Prikk, is showing his support for the organization and the burgeoning ties it has helped to create. Ambassador Prikk arrived at his post in Washington in May of this year. This is his third assignment to the Estonian embassy in DC, having previously served as defense counsellor (2010-2013) and as a diplomat covering trade and economic issues (2002-2006).
MEEC board members and supporters
MEEC held its annual board meeting on September 18th with over 20 board members, embassy staff, Maryland state and city government representatives, and local Maryland Estonians in attendance. Topics of discussion included a review of past activities, planning for upcoming events, and fundraising. Maryland Secretary of State John Wobensmith, who oversees the sister state relationship from his office, and Ambassador Prikk gave remarks in support of MEEC’s work. An overview of Maryland National Guard State Partnership Program exchanges with the Estonian Defense Forces and Kaitseliit – past and future – was presented by the program’s director.
The next major event took place on October 1st, with the dedication of the Salisbury-Tartu Friendship Bridge honoring the sister city relationship between those two cities. Maryland senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, along with Ambassador Prikk and Secretary Wobensmith, participated in the ceremony hosted by Salisbury mayor Jake Day. Coverage of the event by the local ABC affiliate and newspaper can be found at www.wmdt.com and www.delmarvanow.com by searching for “Salisbury Tartu bridge.” The Salisbury-Tartu sister city partnership began in 1999 and includes an active relationship and exchanges between Salisbury University and the University of Tartu.
Ambassador Prikk speaking in front of the Salisbury-Tartu Friendship Bridge. Seated from left are Secretary Wobensmith, Senator Van Hollen, Senator Cardin, and Mayor Day.
The final event on MEEC’s fall schedule was hosting Ambassador Prikk and his family at the annual United States Sailboat Show in Annapolis on October 16th. The family are avid sailors and took the opportunity to view the boats on display while visiting Tallinn’s sister city in Maryland. The day ended at the Eastport Yacht Club, which signed a partnership agreement with the Kalev Yacht Club in Pirita in 2018 (see tinyurl.com/KalevEastportInsta).
The special relationship between Estonia and Maryland started in the early 1990s as part of the NATO Partnership for Peace Program at the end of the Cold War. The Maryland National Guard was linked to the Estonian Kaitseliit (Home Guard) as part of the National Guard Bureau’s State Partnership Program, which established connections between state National Guard units and defense forces of then-newly independent Post-Cold War republics. Since 2003 MEEC has been coordinating the non-military links between Estonia and Maryland. More information about MEEC is available at marylandestoniaexchangecouncil.org and on its Facebook page.
Estonian American National Council 