Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – what can the West do?
08 March 2022 3:00 pm CET
Panel discussion
Venue
Online event. Please register using the registration link below.
Description
Russia’s aggression against Ukraine was met with unexpectedly strong resistance by the Ukrainian Army, which is likely to mean that the war will be prolonged and brutal. The EU, the US and their allies around the world have abandoned a cautious approach of slow intensification of the sanctions and scaled up their severity significantly.
Both the Russian and Ukrainian economies will suffer very badly from the conflict and sanctions. There will also be spillovers for the EU, with higher inflation, lower growth, and effects in the financial sector. At the global level, elevated energy and food prices will hit developing countries especially badly.
The West is willing to pay these costs because of the paradigm shift in European security that the Russian invasion has brought about. It is no longer unthinkable that the EU could even go further in stopping energy imports from Russia. Fears are heightened especially in Eastern members of NATO, who are concerned that the Kremlin’s ambitions do not end with occupying Ukraine. Meanwhile in the midst of the fighting, Ukraine has applied for EU membership, reinforcing the imperative for Brussels to already start thinking about how it will engage with Ukraine when the war is over.
Our panel discussion will consider the following questions:
- Are the current sanctions sufficient to significantly impact on Russia’s ability to finance its war in Ukraine? Should the EU stop importing energy from Russia, and what would the implications of that be?
- If we end up with a protracted war in Ukraine, what can the EU do? How can it best support refugees and provide humanitarian aid, and should it (as part of NATO) support an insurgency movement against Russian occupation?
- What should be the EU's long-term strategy with regards to Ukraine, especially in the context of heightened security risks for its Eastern members? How should the EU handle Ukraine’s membership application? Which kinds of mechanisms/precedents are there for the EU to economically support/integrate post-conflict zones?
Panelists
Stephanie Fenkart is Director of the International Institute for Peace (IIP). Member of the Advisory Committee for Strategy and Security Policy of the Scientific Commission at the Austrian Armed Forces (BMLV). She is also a board member of the NGO Committee for Peace, Vienna
Marcus How is the Head of Analysis at VE Insight, a political risk advisory specialized in CESEE and based in Vienna.
Hlib Vyshlinsky is Executive Director of the Centre for Economic Strategy in Kyiv. He conducts the general management of the Center and represents it in relations with partners.
Olga Pindyuk is Economist and Country Expert for Ukraine and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) at wiiw.
Michael Landesmann (Moderation) is Senior Research Associate at wiiw and Professor of Economics at the Johannes Kepler University Linz. He was Scientific Director of wiiw from 1996 to 2016.
Registration
Please register with the following link: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_q8bV5fEjRKmANEsEcsGGnA
The presentation will be held in English.
Attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions.