ABSTRACT
The introduction of the Medvedev draft European Security Treaty (EST) represents a major foreign policy initiative of Dmitry Medvedev and an interesting point of comparison with the Euro-Atlantic security policies of his predecessor. The Medvedev proposal has been called 'perhaps one of the most important initiatives in the international arena by Moscow since the break-up of the Soviet Union'. The proposal also demonstrated that 'Russia prefers to verbalize its message addressed to the West as an interest-based speech act with obvious pragmatic overtones'. It is important to consider not just the proposal itself and how it developed but also whether the proposal reflects Putin's 2007 statements regarding Euro-Atlantic security. At a December 2007 press conference, Putin argues that 'the system of international relations is at a very important, transformative stage in the whole structure of global security development'. Putin's focus was on the global security system, while the Medvedev proposal concerns itself with the Euro-Atlantic space.
