The annexation of the Crimea by the Russian Federation (FR) in 2014, the destabilization of eastern Ukraine and the militarization of the Kaliningrad region constitute unprecedented security challenges for Europe, and espacially for its central-eastern part. Unfavorable phenomena also occur within the territory of European countries and at their borders. In the last few years, the radicalization of Europe, extremism, violent attacks on people led under the slogans of the so-called Islamic State, as well as growing problems related to the scale of migration phenomena not yet recorded. It is expected that the level of security will continue to decline due to new, difficult to predict threats and their transnational nature. Expert evaluations show that the most dangerous for Central Eastern Europe are the threats stemming from Russia’s imperial policy, which aims to revise the inter-national order established after the end of the Cold War and rebuild the sphere of influence. Striving for the escalation of domination in the strategic dimension by means of a hybrid war, an inseparable part of which is the war in cyberspace, provokes political and military disproportions towards the North Atlantic Alliance and its individual members. Putin’s policy is not only aimed at undermining European legal principles and maintaining domination in the former republics of the Soviet Union, but first and foremost at destabilizing democracy in the United States and European countries, through its influence in the information sphere. Moscow has been carrying out large-scale modernization of its armed forces, including nuclear forces, since 2008, acquires the ability to conduct aggressive activities, engages armed forces outside its own territory and aims to establish military bases both in Europe and beyond. Since the Russian aggression in the Kerch Strait there have been new warnings about an impending invasion of Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic States, and even a possible Third World War.
            NATO in Europe is looking for effective measures to counter the limited war being waged by the Russian Federation. On the other hand, the military capabilities of the United States in Europe are still shrinking. The strategic coherence of Member States is questionable, especially after Donald Tramp takes power. Political, economic and military differences are still growing. The security of the Member States located in the neighborhood with Russia is at its lowest level since the Cold War. Due to the difference in the perception of threats and ambiguities resulting from the hybrid war, tension around the collective defense mechanisms is clearly growing. 
           Lessons learned from the conflict in Ukraine indicate that in a situation of a rapid breakdown into the allied territory of the Russian army and an open armed conflict threatened by nuclear escalation, the reaction of the Alliance due to long decision-making processes and the lack of rapid mechanisms for implementing crisis management procedures will probably be late. Therefore, it is not surprising that some member states, especially those experiencing the greatest threats from the Russian Federation, are willing to reconstruct their own defense mechanisms, bear greater financial burdens on security and acquire new, expensive weapon systems (for example missile defense) or declare readiness for the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons on their own territory. The complexity of the international situation and the ever decreasing level of security caused by the policy pursued by Vladimir Putin, expressing inter alia in conducting the so-called wars in the shadow economy, prompts us to take action to diagnose current threats to Euro-Atlantic security and to forecast those that may appear in the perspective of the next decade, and then determine how to oppose them.
             The purpose of the conference organized cyclically is discussion and exchange of experiences among the scientific community and practitioners of security and crisis management, regarding security threats and actions taken to provide it. The intention of this year’s conference is to devote special attention to the issue of the consequences of threats posed by the Russian Federation to security.

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