International security is facing unprecedented challenges. The risk of escalation and spread of regional conflicts is increasing. There are currently 56 armed conflicts of different intensity in the world. 92 countries are involved in a confrontation beyond their borders.
The international security system created in the post-war period can no longer cope with the challenges of modernity. The existing institutions of international and regional security have completely lost their ability to influence the development of events. The use of restrictive measures and sanctions policies in international relations is becoming increasingly widespread and destructive.
Today, we are witnessing unprecedented changes in the geopolitical situation in the world, the growth of threats to the security of the Union State. Global military spending has been increasing for eight years in a row. And half of them came from NATO countries, whose total military budgets in 2024 made about 1.2 trillion euros. The aggressive intentions are evidenced by the increased military activity of NATO member countries near our borders. The has been brought on the brink of an armed confrontation between nuclear powers.
Belarus and Russia have developed a draft security concept for the Union State
The security of the Union State should be considered in the pan-Eurasian context, since the security of Eurasia directly depends on whether the security of Belarus and Russia is ensured. The leaders of our countries have always advocated and continue to advocate the formation of a unified and indivisible Eurasian security architecture. To this end, Minsk put forward the idea of developing and adopting the Eurasian Charter of Diversity and Multipolarity in the 21st Century. We see the Eurasian Charter as a policy document that will set out the framework principles of the Eurasian security architecture based on the norms of the UN Charter. In turn, Moscow has put forward an initiative to form a Large Eurasian Partnership - the widest possible integration contour in the interests of expanding the liberalization of trade and investment ties, implementing cross-border infrastructure projects, developing a transport and logistics network, and harmonizing integration processes.
Belarus and Russia have developed together a draft security concept for the Union State. The preparation of a bilateral interstate agreement on security guarantees is being finalized. The realization of the idea of Eurasian security inevitably raises the question of other projects in this area and should become an alternative to the Euro-Atlantic security model, which has virtually exhausted itself.
In theory, the OSCE could perform this function as a single platform for NATO countries, non-aligned states, Russia and Belarus. But since early 2000s, the OSCE politicization process has turned this organization into an obedient puppet of Western elites and an effective tool for conducting intelligence in the hands of NATO.
Ignoring our interests has led to a crisis in relationship. The arms control system has degraded, and global treaties, which used to be the main pillar of peacekeeping, are not working. We are talking about non-proliferation regimes, control of strategic offensive weapons, limitation of missile defense systems and elimination of short- and medium-range missiles, control of conventional weapons, prohibition of chemical and biological weapons. Ignoring our national interests amid military operations by the United States and its allies, interference in the internal affairs of post-Soviet countries resulted in the Ukrainian crisis, the military stage of which finally defined the dividing lines in Europe.
The deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus has become a forced response to threats to the Union State. But this did not stop the West. As a result, the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons in the nuclear doctrine of the Russian Federation has been lowered.
The Eurasian security model will become an alternative to the exhausted Euro-Atlantic model
The Euro-Atlantic security region no longer exists. The alternative is the Eurasian security system. It should be based on the equal interaction of all interested countries and not be brought to the dominance of one of them. In this sense, it is symbolic that the issues of Eurasian security were raised at the Minsk platform.
The II Minsk International Conference on Eurasian Security was dedicated to these issues and the development of the conceptual foundations of a new security architecture. Actually, the creation of a new structure is underway. The principle of sharing responsibility and non-dominance can become one of the key ones. As another principle, we are talking about multidimensional security, which should cover not only the military component, but also consider issues comprehensively: from "hybrid threats" to financial and economic security. The principle of security indivisibility should become a key one in the Eurasian region.
The example of building a Union State as an integration association of independent states, the experience we have accumulated can and should become a starting point in forming the foundations for building Eurasian security and promoting the main idea of the peoples of Eurasia - the idea of peace.