This is a legacy website featuring a collection of work by the Carnegie Endowment’s global network of scholars on topics including Russia, Ukraine, Eurasia, and the post-Soviet states. This site is a product of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace based in Washington, D.C. For more recent work by Carnegie scholars in this field, please visit Carnegie Politika.
Russia is demanding to be treated as an equal partner in its relationship with the EU, but Brussels had long ignored this shift, and EU-Russian relations have stagnated as a result. It is time for a fundamental rethink of the EU’s Russia policy.
Since the crisis in Ukraine is climaxing, the Munich Security Conference will have to deal with the Ukrainian question. The Munich event that was supposed to be devoted to security problems takes on a larger significance—it is supposed to raise the question of civilizational split.
British Prime Minister David Cameron used Poles as an example of people who abuse UK’s social help and proposed restricting the freedom of movement within the EU. Though Cameron might have problems at home, he should not destroy the unity of Europeans, who still believe in the EU.
The Eurasian Economic Union had start negotiations with the EU on specific ways to liberalize mutual economic transactions without compromising its statehood. The forthcoming EU-Russia Summit is an opportune venue to launch such an idea.
The Russia-EU summits are basically a relic of the 1990’s when there was still hope to integrate Russia into Europe’s normative framework. Now it is high time to end the protocol routine and move on to expert negotiations on specific issues.
Eurasia Outlook returns in 2014 and in the months ahead it will focus on the issues that are likely to shape the future of Eurasia.
Victor Yanukovych has presented his nation as a gift to Vladimir Putin, but the Ukrainian people have gathered in Kiev’s Independence Square to resist this move. Violence is still possible, and more is at stake than just the political future of one country.
In 2013, Poland got a chance to position itself as a major player within the EU, although “its” Eastern Partnership initiative did not fulfill the expectations. In 2014, Warsaw’s foreign policy—if conducted correctly—could be great for Poland from the image perspective.
By pretty much any historical standards, the wider Europe at the dawn of 2014 is incredibly peaceful. However, peace in Europe should be a signal not for Panglossian optimism but for redoubled Europeans to be vigilant against the risk of new conflicts, large and small.
Understanding that the world has found itself in a period of interregnum, or “time without a trajectory,” is the key legacy of 2013.