EESI

IMPORTANCE OF THE MOMENTUM

Rich on volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity the year 2020 has become a quintessence of a turbulent decade that is coming to its end. «Black swans» of pandemic, interrupted communication and shaken world order have brought about temptation to resort to national egoism and to question benefit of collective concerted actions.

Whether 2021 mark a beginning of a complete new era in international relations, based on wisdom, tolerance and positive synergy, remains to be an open question. Yet, one thing is certain: we should do our utmost to protect the fundamentals of our existence — our security. Only in secure and stable world, we shall prosper.

Someone sees this world as limited to a nation-state; the other considers it embraced into sub-regional alliances or regional integrative platforms. Globalists would defend the case for global security efforts.

For us all these approaches comprise an equilateral triangle. A strong nation is a building block in strengthened secured sub-regional alliances of like-minded countries. The latter could comprise larger and stronger regional security networks at pan-European level to deliver better collective response to common threats. Further upgrade in security could lead us to an upper niveau of cooperation between Eastern and Western hemispheres alike Trans-Atlantic axis.

Events of recent decade have undoubtedly challenged traditional security order and infrastructure in Europe with the region of Eastern Europe being the most vulnerable to harsh selfish actions of individual states, who strive to expand their interests and ambitions at the expense of the others. Illegal annexation of Crimea and ongoing Russo-Ukrainian unnamed war, conflicting European and national interests in some Eastern European countries, limbo of Belarus, tensed relations between NATO and Russia — to name just a few developments that make the region of Eastern Europe ever more exposed to security treads in the coming decade.

These challenges require innovative and progressive «out of the box» thinking with non-conventional and smart solutions, which will help Eastern European countries to be fit and strong to confront existing and emerging dangers.

In this dynamic security setting, governments could hardly allow themselves to enjoy enough time and distract resources for thorough strategic analysis, which could assist them with proper expert background for efficient decision-making. Here is where a mature and responsible expert community has its words to say.

EESI STEPS IN

Founded in late 2020 by the initiative of care-about and public-spirited experts, the Eastern Europe Security Institute (EESI) is an independent non-governmental, non-partisan and non-profit think-tank with its headquarters in Kyiv (Ukraine) and expanding network of its regional offices in Eastern European countries. We take unbiased positions on matters of international, regional and national security based on balanced and neutral intellectual standing and serve as an independent expert platform, where critical issues of regional security are thoroughly examined and openly debated.

We see our role in assisting senior government policy makers and officials to make informed decisions in a dynamic and unpredictable regional security setting.

Our creative team and wider expert network is comprised of Eastern European experts and researchers with senior expertise of working in and for governments of individual countries. Composition of the EESI is a mix of former civil servants, retired military officers, foreign policy experts, business professionals, and academia, who produce innovative analysis and creative policy options.

In our work, we aim to blend academic expertise and practical institutional knowledge with diplomacy and political influence to tackle major regional security threats, which have sharply shaken the stability of Eastern Europe in 2014 and continue to challenge it nowadays.

We address both strategic level issues and specific problems facing policy makers and others having a direct interest in security. We are set up to provide clear, precise and timely analysis on strategic issues, to respond to pressing issues of today, to anticipate future security challenges and to zoom in on foreign and security policy options. We promote innovative thinking in re-framing current regional security problems with a view to find smart solutions.

MISSION

With all its energy, knowledge, expertise and good will, the EESI sees its mission in:

Making Ukraine stronger and capable to defend herself with the full use of instruments of regional and Trans-Atlantic security networks.
Unlocking full potential of Ukraine as mature and trusted contributor to Eastern European regional security with noticeable deliverables in coming decades.
Helping region of Eastern Europe to deal successfully with its internal and external risks and emerging challenges, which affect/undermine its security architecture.
Promoting advantages of Trans-Atlantic and European defense capabilities to strengthen Eastern European security infrastructure with Ukraine being an indispensable part of it.

MAIN GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

In order to serve our mission we set up following goals and objectives

Goals

To direct more focused attention of decision-makers to security fragilities in Eastern Europe, which have been invoked by selfish policies of particular countries.
To bring into attention of governments and other decision-makers sustainable policy proposals and durable solutions to the emerging security threats in Eastern Europe, with a view of taking full advantage of benefits of collective defense and concerted actions.
To re-engine Trans-Atlantic security drivers with smart solutions that match contemporary challenges and effectively respond to destructive selfish behavior of certain state and non-state actors.
To develop more meaningful and practical security cooperation on Balto-Black Seas’ axis, as well as in the Black Sea region.
To contribute into development and consecutive implementation of robust policies that call to account violators of international legal order, which actions severely undermine existing security balance in Eastern Europe.

Objectives

To equip decision-makers in Ukraine and partner-countries with first-hand professional expert analysis and policy recommendations in security field, which are based on best intellectual products that EESI creates in cooperation with leading/respectable East European, British and American think-tanks
To minimize Ukraine’s and Eastern European countries’ exposure to emerging security threats by providing early-warning and preventive risk-diminishing policy advise to those, who takes decisions on security and defense issues in Ukraine and partner-countries of Eastern Europe, the UK and the USA.
To provide substantive input in risk assessment of spill-over effects of security-undermining strategies used by certain states against particular countries in Eastern Europe and to contribute into elaboration of effective counter-strategies to offset these risks.
To contribute into development of a new strong Trans-Atlantic security doctrine towards Eastern European countries that is capable to respond effectively to challenges of modern non-conventional warfare, including cyberwars, disinformation, propaganda and fake news, smart technologies and artificial intellect wars etc.
To provide our partners in Eastern Europe, the EU, the UK and the USA with first-hand expertise and knowledge of hybrid and asymmetrical warfare that Russia conducts in Eastern Ukraine and Crimea and to jointly elaborate a range of efficient responses.
To ensure better understanding of Slavic mindset and ethnopsychology by our Western partners in order to promote ever beneficial cooperation and mutual gains, as well as to address outstanding security challenges in Eastern Europe.
To produce cutting-edge multi-disciplinary analysis and develop strategies that promote diplomatic, political, economic, and intelligence cooperation among the countries in Eastern Europe, the EU, the UK and the USA.

By doing so, the EESI sets its ambitions to:

Become the best regional security intellectual hub for the security and defense community ofUkraine and its partners, who share same values and principles ofTrans-Atlantic collective defense;
Gain afirm foothold asareliable partner for decision-making bodies inUkraine, capable toprovide timely qualitative evaluations ofsecurity risks and recommendations onexpedient policy making;
Assist indeveloping mature statecraft mindset and strategic security thinking culture inUkraine;
Contribute into formation ofnew generation offorward-thinking responsible political elites.