Demotix/Roman Pilipey. All rights reserved.The European Union has been characterised by deep internal divisions, economic crises, and structural problems for the last decade. Against this background, it’s easy to forget that - officially - the EU seeks greater integration with its post-Soviet neighbours and even sees many states of the Western Balkans becoming full-fledged members in the near future.
Russia’s war with Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine’s descent into crisis and conflict in the last year have served as reminders that Brussels can’t simply conduct its foreign policy on autopilot. Ukraine and Armenia’s last minute decisions to backtrack on an Association Agreement in November 2013 demonstrate that the EU’s attractiveness has been diminished in recent years.
Conversely Russia has become increasingly confident protecting what it perceives as its interests in its neighbourhood. Russia is actively pushing an alternative, Moscow-led trade and political bloc, the Eurasian Economic Union, to which Belarus and Armenia are already party.
