CNAS Launches Transatlantic Forum on Russia

The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) today announced the launch of the CNAS Transatlantic Forum on Russia, led by the Center’s Transatlantic Security Program. The forum will convene working groups that generate ideas for how the U.S. and Europe can both confront and engage the Kremlin in key domains, including arms control and strategic stability, sanctions, anti-corruption, Ukraine and the eastern neighborhood, the Arctic, climate change, cyber and hybrid threats, and engaging young Russians and Russian civil society.

“This initiative is incredibly timely,” CNAS Senior Fellow and Transatlantic Security Program Director Andrea Kendall-Taylor said. “With the new U.S. presidential administration, there is an opportunity to revitalize transatlantic cooperation and generate new ideas to more effectively address the Kremlin.”

In the first 100 days of President Joe Biden’s term, Russia has demonstrated that it will remain a persistent challenge. The Biden administration has signaled that strengthening coordination with Europe is a crucial pillar of its efforts to address Russia. At the same time, deterioration in Russia-Europe relations—which accelerated in the wake of the Kremlin’s attacks on opposition leader Alexei Navalny and its military buildup in and around Ukraine—creates seemingly fertile ground for greater transatlantic cooperation on Russia. Yet beyond the positive rhetoric, there is no clear roadmap for how the United States and Europe can work together. The forum’s goal is to facilitate transatlantic dialogue and to produce concrete recommendations for how the United States and Europe can work together to address the Russia challenge.

CNAS CEO Richard Fontaine said, “America’s approach to Russia should flow from close alignment with our transatlantic allies. This new forum will provide a venue for harmonizing our policies and generating new ideas into the future.”

For more information or to schedule an interview with CNAS experts, please contact Shai Korman at comms@cnas.org.