June 16, 2016

ICDS Report Presented in Berlin and London

The ICDS report “Closing NATO’s Baltic Gap” was presented at the leading think-tanks in Germany and the UK.

On June 16th, the presentation event was hosted by the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) in Berlin, where the discussion with two of the report’s co-authors – ICDS Director Ambassador Jüri Luik and ICDS Non-Resident Senior Research Fellow General (ret.) Egon Ramms – as well as DGAP Head of USA/Transatlantic Relations Programme Dr Henning Riecke was moderated by Ms Svenja Sinjen, DGAP Head of Berlin Forum. On June 20th, a similar event was held at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London, where RUSI Deputy Director-General Professor Malcolm Chalmers led a discussion with Ambassador Luik and another co-author of the report, ICDS Non-Resident Senior Research Fellow General (ret.) Sir Richard Shirreff, former DSACEUR.
Both events evoked significant interest from the security and defence communities of Germany and the UK and were joined by senior diplomats, defence offcials, politicians, journalists, academics and experts. This demonstrated that deterring aggression against the Baltic states and, thus, NATO is being given considerable attention by key Allies in the run-up to NATO’s Warsaw Summit. Co-authors of the ICDS report had the opportunity to highlight their main findings and recommendations as well as to respond to many interesting and sharp questions, comments and observations by the members of the audience. While highly appreciating the contribution of Germany and the UK to strengthening NATO‘s deterrence posture in the Baltics, they also underlined the importance of continuing rebuilding national military capabilities and ensuring the strength, cohesion and credibility of the Alliance as long as Russia poses a direct threat to the Alliance and its most vulnerable members.
The ICDS remains very grateful to the DGAP and RUSI teams who organised and hosted these events.
Download: Closing NATO’s Baltic Gap (PDF)

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