From Zero to the Spaces: The European Union and Putin’s Russia - a Visegrad Perspective
From Zero to the Spaces: The European Union and Putin’s Russia - a Visegrad Perspective

Author(s): László Póti
Subject(s): Politics, International relations/trade, Security and defense, EU-Approach / EU-Accession / EU-Development, Geopolitics
Published by: Research Center of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association (RC SFPA)
Keywords: EU; Russia; Visegrad; perspective;
Summary/Abstract: Since it appeared as an independent state, Russia has faced a major foreign policy dilemma in Europe, which might be called the dilemma of the “missing middle”. This means, that while at the global level - through its veto power on the Security Council - and at the regional level - through the traditional bi- and multilateral mechanisms in the post-Soviet space, Russia has managed to assert its basic interests; in Europe - at the “middle” level - it completely lacked anything like this. Consequently, Russia had to try to solve this dilemma by creating a satisfactory level of power assertion in Europe. In the second half of the nineties, the solution to Russia’s European dilemma seemed to be brought about not by catching up in Europe to the global or regional level of power assertion, but rather, by the erosion of Russia’s position both in the UN SC (the Kosovo and Iraq crises) and in the post-Soviet space (the lack of substance in Russian integration efforts). At the same time, Russia has, indeed improved in its power assertion in European affairs by signing the Founding Act with NATO and later by achieving the “dvatsatka”, (format of twenty) with NATO in 2002.

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