Britain, Russia, and Europe’s awareness problem
Europeans have not concluded that Russia is benign, but that the cost of confronting it is theirs to bear personally through economic pressure while the threat itself remains distant and abstract. This is not a failure of policy design. It is a failure of the domestic political architecture needed to support it.
June 23, 2026 -
Callum Fraser
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Hot TopicsIssue 4 2026Magazine
Europe faces a strategic paradox. European security requires spending commitments that generate real fiscal pressure. This pressure has coincided with rising support for parties whose instinct is to soften the local stance on Russia. Photo: paparazzza / Shutterstock

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