Professor Staack contributed an article entitled „Coping with Russia: past failures, future prospects, and implications for the Baltic Sea region“ to the recently published Danish Foreign Policy Review 2018. Danish Foreign Policy Review (until 2017 Danish Foreign Policy Yearbook) addresses Danish foreign policy globally, regionally and domestically. It includes official articles by Denmark’s foreign and defense ministers Anders Samuelsen and Claus Hjort Frederiksen as well as externally peer reviewed academic articles and is edited by the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS) in Copenhagen. According to Michael Staack, the Ukraine conflict marks a structural break in relations between Russia and the West. From his point of view, relations are currently at their worst since the early 1980s. Inadvertent military escalation has become an even more likely scenario than at that time. Professor Staack argues that Denmark’s security is directly affected by these developments. In his essay, he discusses the main problems that led to the break in the partnership between Russia and the West. The paper then goes on to address German policy, which plays a key role in this conflict, and the security constellation in the Baltic Sea region. Michael Staack concludes by presenting proposals, e.g. in the field of confidence building and arms control, that could be suitable for achieving a new normality beyond managing today´s antagonism.