European politicians and experts warn against softening relations with Russia

This was said in an open letter signed by 40 foreign-policy experts, current and former officials, and public activists from Central and Eastern Europe.

"The hybrid war that Russia has imposed on Ukraine is now complemented by a full spectrum of other measures — from disinformation to financial corruption — that are designed to undermine liberal democracy and weaken transatlantic cohesion. These are matters of the utmost seriousness," reads the letter, initiated by the European Values Center for Security Policy (Prague), the Polish Institute of International Affairs (Warsaw), the Estonian Foreign Policy Institute (Tallinn).

The letter recalls that Russia’s attack on Georgia in 2008 and, with greater brazenness, on Ukraine six years later constituted a direct attack on European principles and security.

The authors of the open letter criticized the position of some former American statesmen, diplomats, experts, who called for a reassessment, revision and restart of relations between the West and Moscow.

“Russia remains an existential threat in Ukraine and a potential threat to East-Central Europe,” the letter says.

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