Abstract

This paper observes the European Union (EU)-Russia interactions and their evolution in the period starting from the South Ossetian-Abkhazian till the Ukrainian crisis. I demonstrate the broad trend of the transformation of Russian foreign political strategic calculus. The comparative analysis underlines the changes of European response to Russian actions on the problematic issues of EU-Russia relationship in 2008 and 2014. Among the key findings is the definition of change in Russian foreign policy tactics from Europe-oriented cooperation pattern to a more Eurasia-oriented geopolitical pattern. As a result of the confluence of EU members’ five different foreign policy strategies into a more united response to Moscow, a movement to the right on the engagement-containment continuum framework, and the strengthening of geopolitical competition component in the EU-Russia relationship occurred. Further the engagement approach adopted by the EU is assessed for its efficiency and the declining significance of binding-engaging factors in EU-Russia relationship is demonstrated. The paper concludes with the evaluation of power audit and willingness to exert that power and assessing possible development scenarios. Based on the conclusions of the most likely development scenario several recommendations on adjusting the approach to Russia in the short-, mid- and long-terms are presented for the EU policy-makers.