Press Release, March 4, 2025

Dr. Steven Meyer, a leading American specialist in foreign affairs, has called on Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich to invite European leaders to a “security forum” to be held in Kiev during his first year in office. The purpose of the forum would be to work out a new concept of European security tailored to the realities of the 21st century. Heads of state and government from throughout Europe, including Russia, would attend the forum.

Dr. Meyer is a professor of national security affairs at the National Defense University in Washington and a former official of the CIA. He made his remarks at a press briefing in Kiev organized by the American Institute in Ukraine.

Calling NATO a “hallow organization” of limited usefulness, Meyer urged the new Ukrainian president to take a leadership role in working with his European counterparts. He said a 21st century concept of European security should encompass military, energy and environmental security.

Meyer said NATO Is mired in Cold War thinking. He said President Yanukovich had gotten off to a “good start” in quickly “taking NATO membership off the table.” Noting Yanukovich’s declaration of Ukrainian “neutrality,” he pointed out that “there should be no need for neutrality as there should be no need of opposing camps.” Meyer placed his call for a “security forum” in the context of Russia’s support for a new European security treaty. He called Moscow’s proposal a “good idea” that needed to be “fleshed out.” The proposed Kiev security forum could make a “significant contribution” to this process.

Also speaking at the press briefing was the executive director of the American Institute in Ukraine and former Reagan Administration foreign policy official, Anthony T. Salvia. He noted that although the election results in the second round were “close,” some 80% of voters in the first round supported candidates who rejected ex-President Yushchenko’s foreign policy. He said that the new Ukrainian president has a “clear mandate” to transform Ukrainian foreign policy and to exert leadership in Europe.

The press briefing is part of AIU’s informational and educational program to bring to the people of Ukraine a sense of the diversity of opinion that exists among Americans regarding issues relevant to Ukraine and its relationship to the United State and its European neighbors. AIU believes such diversity allows for a better informed debate among Ukraine’s people about the future of their country, which benefits both Ukraine and the United States. AIU is a privately funded U.S. nonprofit organization and neither receives, solicits, nor accepts funds from any government.