ABSTRACT
Russia has been identified as the major factor in determining the security future of Europe’s Baltic rim, with either its acceptance of the status quo opening up opportunities for co-operation or its intention to revise the post-1989 and postl991 settlements acting as a source of insecurity. This chapter focuses on Europe’s Baltic rim area in the post-Cold War period, placing it within the context of the relationship between Russia and the West as institutionalised in the European Union and NATO. It provides a synthesis of how the rim area-and the countries that compose it-has developed in security terms, and of the scenarios for medium-term security, with special reference to relations with the West and with Russia. To that extent and because of its greater distance from Russia, Poland is less affected by the salient environment of the Baltic rim than are the several Baltic states and even Finland.
