The European Leadership Network is an organisation of former, serving, and future leaders from across the continent who are committed to strengthening Europe’s security. Our Contact Group, first set up in 2017, brings together individuals who can impact national and European policymaking and public debate and who will shape or manage the consequences of present developments in Russia – West relations.
Current members of the Group include Members of Parliament, diplomats, and strategic advisers from across wider Europe. The small number of participants is balanced between Russian experts and opinion-makers and a roughly equal mix of leaders from across the rest of Europe. The group is diverse, exchanges are frank and disagreements are plentiful, but one thing all our members share is an interest in dialogue.
The Contact Group provides an unparalleled opportunity for an informal conversation about security for the near-term and for the next generation. The meetings of the Contact Group allow participants to understand each other’s motives and concerns, provide an opportunity for direct yet confidential interactions, and expand the participants’ international networks.
On 27 October 2022. the European Leadership Network (ELN) convened the Contact Group on Russia-West relations via Zoom to discuss Turkey’s positioning on the war in Ukraine and resulting foreign policy relations.
On 29 September, the ELN Contact Group on Russia-West Relations met to discuss Belarus with speakers from Minsk providing their assessment of the country’s positioning in Russia’s war with Ukraine and in the broader confrontation between Russia and the West.
On 21 July, the ELN Contact Group on Russia-West Relations met to discuss the general picture of Russia-West relations and the Ukraine war. The conversation covered specific aspects of Russia's invasion of Ukraine (both current and future), questions regarding energy politics in Europe, Ukraine...