It has become fashionable to speak of a “crisis” in relations between the EU and Russia. However, this language obscures the fact that developments in the political and economic spheres have been proceeding in quite different ways. It is possible, if not necessarily likely, that the new constellation of the political elite in Russia will take a more cooperative line toward the EU and the West in general.
It has become fashionable to speak of a “crisis” in relations between the EU and Russia. However, this language obscures the fact that developments in the political and economic spheres have been proceeding in quite different ways. It is possible, if not necessarily likely, that the new constellation of the political elite in Russia will take a more cooperative line toward the EU and the West in general.
When the Baltic countries entered NATO and the European Union a couple of years ago, many thought it was the end of the centuries-old "red line." Euro-Atlantic organizations had crossed into the former Russian and Soviet empires.
In September 2004, the Russian city of Novgorod hosted an international conference entitled Russia at the Turn of the Century: Hopes and Reality. Its organizers were the RIA Novosti news agency, the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, Russia in Global Affairs, and The Moscow Times.