PERSPECTIVE For a Balanced Peace First Steps out of the Security Deadlock in(Eastern) Europe REINHARD KRUMM, ALEXANDRA VASILEVA, SIMON WEISS August 2017 n The existing European security and peace order has revealed major cracks in the course of the Ukraine conflict. Unlike during the Cold War, the complex diversity of actors with numerous divergent interests makes a simple rapprochement in this conflict difficult. n The Minsk-II Agreement offers the only written codified conflict-solving mechanism, which currently includes all the actors involved in the Normandy format. It is there­fore necessary to work on a revitalization of this agreement. n For years an erosion of trust between the Russian Federation and the EU / NATO has been evident. Trust does not simply come back spontaneously, but is regained through concrete effort. Not a major undertaking but small steps, leading to islands of cooperation, could be the way out  —  to achieve a balanced peace with a more inclusive and stable European security and peace order.