Prof. Maria Mälksoo delivered a keynote lecture “The New Deterrence Agents from Europe’s East” at the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (IOS) Annual Conference “From Contested Pasts to (In)Secure Futures – Politics in East and Southeast Europe” in Regensburg, Germany on 23 April 2026.
The talk examined how Russia’s war against Ukraine has served as a catalyst for the Baltic states and Poland in revitalising the concept and practice of deterrence in the two realms where it has historically had notable currency: in international security politics and international criminal law. Drawing on the Ritual Deterrence project findings, Maria showed how NATO’s post-post-Cold War reinvention of deterrence has been actively nudged by the recipient states of the North Atlantic Alliance’s forward presence in NATO’s eastern flank. The talk further engaged the Baltic diplomatic initiatives for creating an international special tribunal to prosecute Russian crime of aggression against Ukraine as a practice of deterrence by means of accountability.
