The year 2009 brought closure to the first decade of the 21st century and – largely although not completely – to the entire post-Cold-War period in Euro-Atlantic politics. It also closed an era in Russian domestic and foreign policies marked by the country’s recovery as a state and a steep strengthening of its international and political positions.

Let me share with you some thoughts born from the discussions of a report on a new Euro-Atlantic security architecture. The report, being prepared by the Russian group of the Valdai Club which I have been chairing for the last six years, will be presented in Moscow and London in December this year.