Europe, Power & Security, Russia Sweden’s ex-Prime Minister talks Ukraine, effects on Europe

As the war in Ukraine entered its third week, Perry World House hosted Sweden’s former Prime Minister Carl Bildt to offer his assessment on the conflict and where NATO, the European Union, and the world goes from here.

Bildt, who was also Sweden’s former foreign minister, has helped navigate major international challenges in his career spanning five decades, including negotiating directly with Russia when the Ukraine crisis first began in 2014.

He was introduced Monday evening by Interim President Wendell Pritchett.

“One of the biggest questions we now face is what happens next? Or in the prophetic words of Gen. David Petraeus speaking in 2003 on the Iraq War, ‘Tell me how this ends,’” Pritchett said. He welcomed Bildt, a Distinguished Global Leader in Residence at Perry World House, “to share his invaluable experience on these and other big questions.”

The discussion was moderated by New York Times reporter and editor Clay Risen, a Perry World House Visiting Fellow.

Bildt started off the evening looking back at the history of the region from the czars to World War I to the current crisis.

“We haven’t seen anything of the sort since Adolf Hitler invaded Poland in September of 1939, and the responsibility this time lies squarely with one person, Vladimir Putin,” he said. “The outcome remains uncertain, but one thing is clear: Europe and the world will not be the same. Consequences will be immense for a long time to come.”

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