To Have or to Be: The Dilemma of EU Sanctions on Russia for the V4

The crisis in eastern Ukraine has not changed the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia’s perception of their relations with Russia, which continues to be defined primarily through economic and energy cooperation, rather than hard security. Therefore, due to expected financial and political losses, these countries treat with much caution the EU’s idea to tighten sanctions against Moscow. On the one hand, this is due to a well-founded fear that because of their dependence on trade with Russia, counter-sanctions will mostly hit the EU’s eastern flank. On the other hand, though, such a policy is evidence of the short-sightedness of Central European elites, who do not seem to appreciate the importance of the Ukrainian–Russian conflict and its direct threat to the security of their own region.

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