50 years of the Helsinki process and the 30th anniversary of the Budapest “guarantees”: The prospects for a new world order

The 1st of August 2025 was the 50th anniversary of the signing in Helsinki (Republic of Finland), which was a landmark event in the political and security history not only of the European continent but also of the entire world, initiating the Helsinki Process and a system of international principles of coexistence. For decades to come, the rules and norms of behaviour in all spheres of human activity (international politics and military-political security, economy, environment and practical cooperation between countries and organisations, humanitarian sphere and human and minority rights in the broadest sense of these concepts) and the obligations of countries to each other and within international organisations throughout the European region were defined. The signing of this document was preceded by several years of negotiations by hundreds of diplomats, politicians and leaders from 35 countries in Europe, the USSR, the US and Canada. During the Cold War, which had been going on for more than a quarter of a century, the principal negotiators were the USSR and the USA, as well as their partner countries and satellites, which did not determine the content of the documents concluded, but played the role of stakeholders and ardent supporters of their patrons, the two main great powers, the geopolitical poles of the global bipolar system of international relations at that time. The main negotiating motivation of the USSR and its Eastern European satellites was to ensure their territorial integrity and legal fixation of the borders formed after the World War II