Overview

• Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj invoked the 50th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act to demand a firm international response to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
• Stubb stressed that border inviolability and non-use of force must not be violated or tolerated to prevent a new era of sphere-of-influence politics in Europe.
• Zelenskyj called on European states to maintain pressure on Moscow and bolster Ukraine’s security in accordance with the Act’s human rights and sovereignty guarantees.
• Experts at anniversary events explored a prospective 'Helsinki 2.0' security arrangement, proposing to expand the pact’s multilateral framework to include China and address contemporary geopolitical fractures.
• The OSCE, established in 1995 as the successor to the KSZE process and comprising 57 member states, remains the sole pan-European security forum but has been largely paralysed by ongoing hostilities.