Russia’s European Policies in a Post-liberal World

Abstract

Despite the current conflicts between Russia and the EU, the latter remains a key reference point in a plethora of Russian discourses that are Europe-centric in the sense of playing with different arguments aimed at vindicating Russia’s belonging to Europe through loosely defined history, geography and culture, but also through accentuating Russia’s military presence and ability to interfere in European domestic processes. The goal of this chapter is to trace the trajectory of Russia’s EU policies since the beginning of the 1990s until the present, compare Russian and European approaches to international relations and discuss Russia’s rhetorical manoeuvring under the conditions of drastic deterioration of relations with the West after 2014. The chapter additionally discusses Russia’s policies towards the EU from the viewpoint of broader debates on post-liberal international order and shares some critical insights on the state of communication between Russia and Europe.