Ukraine Crisis to Dominate Munich Security Conference

MUNICH (Sputnik) — Munich Security Conference chairman Wolfgang Ischinger said Friday he expected the Ukraine conflict to be at the center of this key meeting on European security.

"I expect that the crisis over Ukraine will be at the very core, at the center of the coming two days," Ischlinger stated, at the opening of the conference.

Ukraine has moved to the fore of the European agenda in recent weeks, following an increase in hostilities in the country's southeast.

The Munich Security Conference is intended to mend flaws in international security, the chairman said.

"It is obvious that there are some serious cracks in the international order, and the major flaws in what we thought were reliable and useful collective security structures," Isсhinger said in his opening speech, adding that the conference would hopefully help find ways to eliminate those flaws.

According to the chairman, the conference also aims at detecting new possible security threats and ways to prevent and counter emerging security issues before they become life-threatening crises.

Isсhinger stressed that the conference would try to resolve immediate and strategic issues.

The 51st Munich Security Conference began in the Bavarian capital February 6 and will last until February 8. The conference is an international discussion forum to promote cooperation in countering global security issues.