Russia vs. the European Union: a ‘strategic partnership’ crisis

Abstract:

Contrary to both parties' declarations on the development of their 'strategic partnership', relations between Russia and the European Union have over recent years been in a state which could be called one of crisis. However, this does not mean that there have been no achievements in EU-Russian relations. The key problem is that Russia and the European Union have essentially different perceptions, aspirations and interests, which causes mistrust and disillusionment. This crisis is manifested in mutual criticism by the two sides, regularly recurring tensions and cooling of relations ('minicrises'), and especially by the 'virtualisation of co-operation', i.e. concealing a lack of substantive content in many key areas under increasingly rich layers of dialogue and co-operation.