Russia and the European Union in eulerian circles of "Europe" : Russian quest for ideal Europe beyond the EU

This article studies the European identity of modern Russia and EU countries. The main idea of the article is that the existence of the European Union today is largely determined by the spirit of “Europeanness” and by relations between European countries and the EU. The article examines the correlation between the notions of ‘Europe’ and the ‘European Union,’ and analyzes the results of the opinion polls conducted to measure peoples’ feeling of “Europeanness” in EU countries and Russia. Over the past twenty-five years, the EU and Russia have seen all kinds of relations—from official assurances of sharing common values, goals and interests and public support for the idea of Russia’s integration with the EU to openly competitive and, later, hostile relations. The Ukraine crisis has brought growing differences to a head, and subsequent mutual sanctions have clearly demarcated the boundaries of “Europeanness” and prospects for rapprochement or estrangement between the former strategic partners. The issue of “belonging to Europe” today determines the political choice and development vectors of EU and non-EU countries. The peculiarity of European identity is that residents of EU countries, just like many Russians, do not believe that the EU is the embodiment of an “ideal Europe,” although they agree that European integration positively influences the implementation of the idea of an “ideal Europe.

Prosecution for violations of International Humanitarian Law: Russia’s position

Russia’s official position regarding the prosecution for violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) in international criminal courts changed during the 1990s and the 2000s. The article studies the reasons for these changes by reviewing works of Russian experts. The performance of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) had a negative impact on Russia’s position. Russian experts questioned the impartiality of the ICTY and its effectiveness in preventing such crimes and reconciling the parties. Russia’s position has also changed with regard to the International Criminal Court (ICC). In 2000, the Russian Federation signed the Rome Statute that established the ICC, but withdrew its signature in November 2016. One of the reasons for that decision was the participation of Russian troops in armed conflicts outside of the Russian Federation and outside of UN peacekeeping missions. Russian experts emphasize that IHL norms are enforced primarily at the national level, which means that Russia can make its own decisions regarding criminal prosecution for IHL violations

Russia and the European Union in eulerian circles of "Europe" : Russian quest for ideal Europe beyond the EU

This article studies the European identity of modern Russia and EU countries. The main idea of the article is that the existence of the European Union today is largely determined by the spirit of “Europeanness” and by relations between European countries and the EU. The article examines the correlation between the notions of ‘Europe’ and the ‘European Union,’ and analyzes the results of the opinion polls conducted to measure peoples’ feeling of “Europeanness” in EU countries and Russia. Over the past twenty-five years, the EU and Russia have seen all kinds of relations—from official assurances of sharing common values, goals and interests and public support for the idea of Russia’s integration with the EU to openly competitive and, later, hostile relations. The Ukraine crisis has brought growing differences to a head, and subsequent mutual sanctions have clearly demarcated the boundaries of “Europeanness” and prospects for rapprochement or estrangement between the former strategic partners. The issue of “belonging to Europe” today determines the political choice and development vectors of EU and non-EU countries. The peculiarity of European identity is that residents of EU countries, just like many Russians, do not believe that the EU is the embodiment of an “ideal Europe,” although they agree that European integration positively influences the implementation of the idea of an “ideal Europe.

Still looking for a partnership? EU-Russia cooperation in the field of higher education

The article analyses how Russian and European scholars have studied EU-Russia cooperation in the field of higher education. Cooperation in this field occupies a small share of scholarship on EU-Russia cooperation but has been evaluated as ‘the least conflicting’ among all areas of cooperation and the least affected by crises in EU-Russia relations. We first review the phases of cooperation and argue that cooperation has transformed from technical aid in the 1990s towards a more equal partnership since the mid-2000s. We present our analysis of previous studies in this field by looking at how scholars, often practitioners of cooperation themselves, have presented the objectives, results and challenges of cooperation and its future prospects. In particular, we are interested in whether cooperation has been presented as something between equal partners or as an asymmetrical relationship, and the binaries ‘donor-recipient’ or ‘master–pupil’ applied. We argue that these roles given by different actors are relevant to understanding the past and current of EU-Russia relations. Our findings confirm that the shared objective of the nature of cooperation is that of being between equal partners. Cooperation is also viewed as beneficial to both Russia and EU member states at the national/supranational, institutional and individual levels