Today, Friday, in Germany, the first session of the 58th Munich International Security Conference begins, nearly two years after its last actual meeting due to the Corona pandemic, and it is expected that the conference will be dominated by the escalation of tension between the West and Russia due to the Ukrainian crisis, in the absence of any official representative of the Russian government. in the conference.
The conference comes at a time when the world is witnessing developments at the political and security levels, especially the crisis between Ukraine and Russia.
The conference - which is one of the most famous security conferences in the world - will also discuss the Iranian nuclear file, the Corona virus pandemic, climate and energy crises, in addition to the structure of security systems in the world, and the security situation in the Sahel region in Africa.
A large number of foreign and defense ministers from several countries except Russia will participate in the conference - which will continue until Sunday, despite an invitation to it. US Vice President Kamala Harris, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres are expected to participate.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will also participate in the conference.
A prominent American presence in the #Munich_Security_Conference to reassure allies https://t.co/lNNzLezYBh
— Jassim Mohamad (@jassim__press) February 18, 2022
Lavrov is missing
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who usually represents his country at this conference, is absent from the Munich conference, for the first time since 1991. The head of the conference, Wolfgang Ischinger, said in a statement to a German television channel that the absence of officials from the Russian government from the conference is a "mistake", and hundreds of One of the decision-makers participating in the conference "deeply regrets that Russia did not represent itself in it."
The Kremlin said last week that Russia's official absence from the Munich conference reflects "the level to which the deterioration of relations between East and West has reached," and Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the conference had become "biased to the West and lost the character of comprehensiveness and objectivity."
Boris Rogge, Vice President of the Munich Security Conference, told Al Jazeera today, Friday, that there are challenges facing Western countries in conjunction with the convening of the Munich Conference, and added that the regular convening of the conference will help overcome crises, explaining that the conference will discuss the Ukrainian-Russian crisis, and that Russia despite its absence from the conference. It will closely follow what is happening in Munich.
On the current tension between the West and Russia, Rogge added that he believes that NATO and the European Union "have a unified position, which is that they will respond forcefully through sanctions and political measures if Russia invades Ukraine."
The German news agency reported that nearly 30 heads of state and government are participating in the Munich conference, in addition to more than 80 ministers.
The conference will be held in the luxurious Bayerischer Hof Hotel in light of strict restrictions to prevent corona, including reducing the number of participants from two thousand to only 600, who are required to be catering to the virus and undergo a daily corona examination.