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PEACE IN UKRAINE – PEACE IN EUROPE  
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Walter Baier
November 26, 2025
European Left
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_ The EL has condemned Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine
as a violation of international law and denial of Ukraine’s
sovereignty. However the EL has not aligned itself with NATO whose
objective has been to end the war through military means. _

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The ongoing war in Ukraine has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives,
destroyed hundreds of towns and villages, and forced millions of
people to flee. The danger of escalation into a general war between
Russia and NATO persists and continues to grow. The EL stresses once
more that all political and diplomatic initiatives aimed at achieving
a ceasefire, bringing the war to a lasting and durable end, and
preventing any further escalation must be taken, strengthened, and
implemented immediately.

From the first day, the EL has condemned Russia’s military
aggression against Ukraine as a violation of international law and a
denial of Ukraine’s sovereignty, reflecting an imperialist strategy
to pursue its own political aims.

However, the EL has not aligned itself with the strategies of NATO and
EU Member States or the European Commission, whose objective has been
to end the war solely through military means and to draw Russia into a
war of attrition in order to defeat it militarily.

Any durable peace agreement must be based on an honest reflection on
the reasons for the war, its prehistory, and the interests of all
parties involved. It must acknowledge that the opportunity to
establish a collective European security system after the end of the
bloc confrontation was deliberately missed. As a result, the war in
Ukraine has become a battleground for the geopolitical and
geo-economic power struggle between the Russian Federation, the United
States, and the European Union. Our solidarity can only be with the
victims—the soldiers, civilians, refugees, and conscientious
objectors on both sides—and not with the imperialist interests that
fuel the conflict.

The war might already have ended in spring 2022, when negotiators from
Ukraine and Russia discussed a possible agreement in Istanbul
outlining the basis for a ceasefire. The principles discussed in
Istanbul still point toward a possible path to a peace settlement,
alongside steps taken by third parties from the Global South:

* The Russian Federation must recognize Ukraine’s sovereignty and
right to self-determination, immediately end hostilities, withdraw its
troops, and provide guarantees for Ukraine’s security.
* Ukraine and must take into account the security interests of the
Russian Federation and therefore renounce its intention to join NATO,
adopting a status of military neutrality.
* The future of areas of Ukraine inhabited by Russian-speaking
populations must be resolved in accordance with international law and
European minority rights standards.
* A ceasefire and subsequent peace agreement must be guaranteed by
the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and other
willing states.

Russia’s illegal attack on Ukraine has provided NATO with the
pretext for the most extensive rearmament program since 1945. The EL
opposes this rearmament, which comes at the expense of the welfare
state and investments in ecological transformation. Climate change and
the possible ecological collapse caused by the accelerated melting of
permafrost soils represent the greatest dangers to security and peace
in Europe and beyond. Addressing these challenges and ensuring
peaceful coexistence must become a core task for all relevant powers,
governments, and economic actors, through the establishment of
collective security structures and coordinated efforts. The EL
therefore rejects the notion that peace must be secured primarily by
military means rather than political ones.

A peace agreement in Ukraine must be embedded in a new European peace
order. We seek a Europe that takes responsibility for its own security
and can act autonomously.

The Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe offered an
important lesson. With the signing of the Helsinki Final Act, the
leaders of the Western and Eastern blocs did not overcome their
political antagonisms, but they recognized that security in Europe
could only be achieved through cooperation. Returning to this
fundamental insight—a new “Helsinki 2.0” process—is at the
core of the EL’s security proposal.

An urgent objective is to eliminate the military risk posed by nuclear
warheads stationed in Europe and kept on standby for mutual
destruction. The EL strives for a nuclear-weapon-free Europe as part
of a global agreement on nuclear disarmament, in accordance with the
legally binding Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).
The EL also rejects any attempt to turn outer space into a new arena
for the arms race or a battleground of economic rivalry between
leading technological powers.

 
_Walter Baier, an Austrian politician and economist based in Vienna,
assumed the presidency of the Party of the European Left in December
2022. Previously, Baier was the national chairman of the Communist
Party of Austria (KPÖ) from 1994 to 2006 and editor of the Austrian
magazine __Volksstimme_ [[link removed]]_. Since 2000, he
has worked on dialogue between atheists and Catholics through the
project __DIALOP_ [[link removed]]_, leading in the last years to
meetings with Pope Ratzinger and Pope Francis. From 2007 to 2022, he
was political coordinator and board member of the transform! europe
network._
 

_The Party of the European Left is a political party at the European
level that was formed in 2004, comprising over 40 national parties
that stand together for change. Besides its official members and
observers, which include socialist, communist, red-green, and other
democratic left parties, the EL also stands united with various left
and progressive forces—grassroots organisations, trade unions,
social movements, and activists—from all corners of Europe.
 transform! europe is the recognised corresponding political
foundation of the EL._

* Ukraine
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* Russia
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* NATO
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* peace movement
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