The EAEU as Perceived by the Western Scientific and Expert Community (Bibliographic Essay)

In the context of the ongoing crisis in EU-Russia relations, the search for new formats of economic dialogue becomes particularly relevant. With the assistance of the Eurasian Economic Commission, various platforms are being created to explore the possibilities for cooperation between the EAEU and the EU in the areas of trade, investment, convergence of technological standards, etc., with the participation of leading experts and business circles. However, despite the gradual growth of interest in issues of Eurasian economic integration within the Western scientific and expert community, skepticism regarding the EAEU still prevails. The EAEU itself is mostly seen as a political project initiated by Russia and unable to bring real economic benefits to its member countries. US and European observers dwell on unequal economic opportunities of the EAEU countries, insufficient mutual trade and mixed consequences of the transition to common customs tariffs for Kazakhstan and Armenia. Moreover, in many European publications the EAEU is perceived not as a possible economic partner of the EU, but as its geopolitical competitor. Most experts conclude that cooperation between the EU and the EAEU is either impossible or possible only on a limited scale. Nevertheless, the attitude of Western experts towards the EAEU is gradually changing. Integration processes in the Post-Soviet space are increasingly viewed through the prism of the theory of new regionalism. It is noted that the EAEU, as well as another project in Eurasia - the Silk Road Economic Belt, may become an alternative to Western models of integration. Over the past four years, besides economic costs, Eurasian integration has also brought certain dividends to its members, which, however, do not always lie on the surface and are often of a political nature. In this regard, some European experts and scholars (although they still constitute a minority), mainly from Germany and Austria, admit that it is counterproductive for the EU to ignore the EAEU, and advocate for cooperation between them

Russian-Greek Relations: Is There a Light at the End of the Tunnel?

At the end of the first decade of the 21st century, relations between Russia and Greece entered a protracted period of stagnation, which continues to this day, despite numerous attempts by both countries to intensify political dialogue. One of the reasons is the general degradation of Russia’s relations with the Western countries, which intensified in the middle of the last decade against the backdrop of the Ukrainian crisis. At the same time, the “sanctions wars” have become an important, but not the only reason for the reduction in bilateral contacts. There were other factors as well: Greece’s dissatisfaction with the excessively close cooperation between Russia and Turkey, different views on NATO’s Eastern enlargement, as well as interchurch disagreements.On the economic plane, Russian-Greek cooperation was hampered by the desire of Greece to diversify its energy supplies, the food embargo regime introduced by Russia against the EU countries, as well as the policy of investment protectionism pursued by Greece towards Russian companies.The greatest success has been achieved in the humanitarian field. Due to the cultural and historical closeness of the two peoples, as well as due to the disappointment of the Greeks in the results of European integration, Greece remains one of the few countries where most people treat Russia with sympathy. At the same time, the perception of Russia by the Greeks is distorted and often fragmentary. The positive effect of Russian-Greek humanitarian cooperation is often overshadowed by negative coverage of Russian foreign policy in the Greek media

Toward the Ultra-incompressible Carbon Materials. Computational Simulation and Experimental Observation

The common opinion that diamond is the stiffest material is disproved by a number of experimental studies where the fabrication of carbon materials based on polymerized fullerenes with outstanding mechanical stiffness was reported. Here we investigated the nature of this unusual effect. We present a model constituted of compressed polymerized fullerite clusters implemented in a diamond matrix with bulk modulus <i>B</i>₀ much higher than that of diamond. The calculated <i>B</i>₀ value depends on the sizes of both fullerite grain and diamond environment and shows close correspondence with measured data. Additionally, we provide results of experimental study of atomic structure and mechanical properties of ultrahard carbon material supported the presented model