Europe’s fundamental security principles and the values of liberal democracy come increasingly under the pressure of Russia’s subversive or aggressive behaviour. Crimea’s annexation and the ongoing war in Eastern Ukraine are questioning the viability of the European integration project and the Euro-Atlantic peace and security architecture (especially in the Black sea area, Baltic States and Poland). Moreover, Russia’s support for anti-immigrant, populist and extremist parties in Europe has proved its efficiency in fragmenting the European Union. The pro-Brexit vote will deepen the division within the EU, which is about to lose London’s strong critical voice towards Moscow. Furthermore, Russia is attempting to restore its role as a leading world power. The ongoing war in Syria was skilfully used to reach this objective. Western states have directed their funds and intellectual efforts mainly to support the diplomatic and journalistic expertise on Arab and Asian political and security developments.  At the same time, the EU former communist members have focused their efforts on the process connected to EU accession negotiations and NATO membership.

As a consequence, most of the EU or NATO states lack the adequate expertise and knowledge for addressing Russia’s aggressive behavior and subversive actions. Nowadays the majority of EU states don’t have the relevant expertise and comprehensive knowledge to prepare the groundwork for a new agenda in their relations with Russia.

This collection of studies aims to explore the most important  political and security developments  in Russia after Crimea’s annexation. At the same time the our efforts are focused on  proposing  policy recommendations for authorities, media outlets and civil society from both EU countries  and Russia.

The Authors

Russia – collection of policy papers, version PDF version