European Union, Eastern Europe and Russia: Trilateral Relations in the Period of Ukraine’s Crisis

Abstract

As a result of geopolitical changes which occurred on the verge of the 1980s and 1990s, the map of East-Central Europe underwent signifiant modifiations. The enlargement of the EU encompassing Central European states (especially Poland) contributed to the change of the EU’s attitude towards the post-Soviet space. Up to the time of the enlargement, due to the dominance of the “Russia fist” policy, the EU did not recognize the need for tightening relations with post-Soviet states. After 2004, a gradual change in the EU’s attitude towards its eastern neighborhood can be observed. The present paper aims to describe the EU’s eastern policy in the period of crises: on the one hand, those plaguing the EU, and on the other, the so-called Ukrainian crisis. The crisis, a de facto, armed conflct between Russia and Ukraine, has resulted not only in a geopolitical change in Eastern Europe, but also exerted impact upon conditions the EU’s eastern policy is realized in. In 2017, it is 8 years since the Eastern Partnership was implemented. The project, its achievements, objectives and opportunities need to be revisited. In other words, works on the Eastern Partnership 2.0 ought to be commenced. A change of both the approach and narration as far as the EaP project is concerned, is required. New areas and filds the EaP will offer opportunities for EaP-EU relations to be tightened ought to be discovered. The armed conflct in Ukraine, resulting in the instability of eastern neighborhood, constitutes a security challenge for the whole area of Eastern Europe.