Helsinki Cathedral was originally built as a tribute to Nicholas I, the Tsar of Russia. Until the independence of Finland in 1917 it was called St. Nicholas’ Church. Credit: Flickr/Debarshi Ray.
The SIPRI Update for July–August 2014 is out now—read it online, or subscribe to receive the SIPRI Update in your inbox each month.
In this issue we present an essay by Lars–Erik Lundin on the need to return to a basic level of trust in relations between Russia and the West. He writes:
The basis for a constructive discourse between Russia and the West has been fundamentally undermined in recent years. The five-day conflict in 2008 over the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia was a major setback in this regard. The attempt by the Obama administration to reset relations in the following year proved to be unsuccessful. Russia’s annexation of the Crimea region of Ukraine in early 2014, in violation of the principle of the 1975 Helsinki Final Act —according to which borders can only be changed through peaceful agreement—further aggravated the situation.
Read the full essay online or browse the full list of SIPRI Essays from 2009 to 2014.