Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Russia and the European Union: Convergence or Divergence?

2005; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 14; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/09662830500336060

1746-1545

Derek Averre,

Post-Soviet Geopolitical Dynamics

Abstract European Union enlargement has left Russia on the margins of European political processes and led to widespread suspicion in the Moscow foreign policy establishment of European motives. This has resulted in, first, increasing resistance to the imposition of European norms and, second, a more assertive policy, particularly in the EU's and Russia's 'overlapping neighbourhoods'. Although Moscow is likely to continue the strategy of engagement initiated under Putin, Brussels must radically rethink the nature and extent of Russia's 'Europeanisation'. Russia's drive for modernisation will coexist with the strengthening of sovereignty and the power of the state, seen by the Putin administration as key to external and internal security. The EU will have to limit its ambition and work within this 'window'—wider or narrower depending on state of play—of policy possibilities. Notes 1 Russia – WTO: EU–Russia Deal Brings Russia a Step Closer to WTO Membership, IP/04/673, Brussels, 21 May 2004, at http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/russia/intro/ip04_673.htm (accessed 14 June 2004). 2 European Neighbourhood Policy, Strategy Paper, Communication from the Commission COM(2004) 373 final, Brussels, 12 May 2004 (English text), at http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/world/enp/pdf/strategy/Strategy_Paper_EN.pdf (accessed 7 June 2004). 3See May 2003 summit Joint Statement at http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/russia/sum05_03/js.htm (accessed June 2003). 4Joint press conference on the results of the Russia–EU summit, The Hague, 25 November 2004, at http://www.ln.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/sps/59A29794DC304295C3256F58002507DC (accessed 13 December 2004). 5Vladimir Chizhov, deputy minister for foreign affairs responsible for relations with Europe, has emphasised that 'the aim of the CIS is to assist the "soft" inclusion of its member states into the process of globalisation by unifying the economic, financial, intellectual and technological resources which the Commonwealth countries possess. The vector of CIS development lies in its transformation from a regional organisation into a fully-fledged integrated union'; 'European Union and CIS: New Outline for Cooperation', speech at the Berlin forum 'Vision of Europe', Berlin, 19 November 2004, at http://www.ln.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/sps/5F7BABB5DE650EA5C3256F520055371A (accessed 13 December 2004). As well as the CIS itself the main vehicles for integration are the Single Economic Space, involving Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan; the Eurasian Economic Union, incorporating Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan; and the Collective Security Treaty Organisation which brings together most CIS countries. 6Discussions with UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials, 13 January 2005. 7See V.A. Chizhov, 'Russia and the EU: Strategic Partnership', Mezhdunarodnaya zhizn', 9 September 2004 at http://www.ln.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/sps/830C44C0D41BF21AC3256F1D00223C9E (accessed 25 October 2004). Meetings in other formats take place on an ad hoc informal basis; 25 + 1 meetings have already taken place in some 'branch' areas of dialogue together with 'operative dialogue' with the troika or other combinations of interested member states, Commission and Council of the EU. 8As Tat'yana Parkhalina argues, enhanced PPC mechanisms with the EU do not have same effect as NATO–Russia Council arrangements since a complex bureaucratic web of trade, economic and financial rules rather than political bargaining drives EU policy; 'EU–Russia relation complicated by the Union's enlargement'; Kreml'.org politicheskaya ekspertnaya set', 7 April 2004, at http://www.kreml.org/decisions/51765639/ (accessed 19 April 2004). 9D. Danilov, 'Relations between Russia and the EU Need to be put on a Strategic Footing', Kreml'.org politicheskaya ekspertnaya set'. 10D. David, 'Russie/UE: une culture de securité commune?', paper at conference Die erweiterte Europäische Union und ihre neuen Nachbarn. Wirtschaftliche, politische und soziale Herausforderungen, Vilnius, 14–15 October 2004, reproduced at http://www.oefz.at/fr/Vilnius_04/Interventions/David.pdf (accessed 3 November 2004). 11A. Rahr, 'With each passing day Russia and the EU need each other more and more', Rossiiskaya gazeta, 26 October 2004, p. 13. 12See in particular O. Antonenko and K. Pinnick (eds), Russia and the European Union (Abingdon and New York; Routledge/IISS 2005); D. Johnson and P. Robinson (eds), Perspectives on EU-Russia Relations (Abingdon and New York: Routledge Europe and the Nation State series 2005);V. Baranovsky, Russia's Attitude Towards the EU: Political Aspects, Programme on the Northern Dimension of the CFSP (Helsinki/Berlin: The Finnish Institute for International Affairs/Institut für Europäische Politik 2002); D. Lynch, Russia faces Europe, Chaillot Paper no. 60 (Paris, EU Institute for Security Studies, May 2003). 13The author has benefited greatly from recent participation in three projects which have involved a number of leading Russian, European and US specialists on EU–Russia relations; first, the Finnish Institute for International Affairs 'Russia's European Choice', led by Arkady Moshes and Hiski Haukkala and funded by the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Transport via the Finnish Academy; second, a workshop for a forthcoming edited book by Jackie Gower and Graham Timmins hosted by the University of Stirling in June 2004; and, third, UK–Russia policy support seminars funded by the UK FCO and MOD and organised by Sir David Logan of the Centre for Studies in Security and Diplomacy, University of Birmingham, and Professor Dmitrii Danilov of the Institute of Europe, Moscow. Thanks are also due to Dr Olga Potemkina of the Institute of Europe and two anonymous referees for helpful comments. 14 Wider Europe—Neighbourhood: A New Framework for Relations with our Eastern and Southern Neighbours, Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament, COM(2003) 104 final, Brussels 11 March 2003 (English text) at http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/world/enp/pdf/com03_104_en.pdf (accessed December 2003), p. 3. 15 European Neighbourhood Policy, Strategy Paper, p. 4. For background on the evolution of the ENP see D. Lynch, 'From "Frontier" Politics to "Border" Policies between the EU and Russia', in Antonenko and Pinnick (eds), Russia and the European Union, pp. 21–2. 16 European Neighbourhood Policy, Strategy Paper, p. 4. For background on the evolution of the ENP see D. Lynch, 'From "Frontier" Politics to "Border" Policies between the EU and Russia', in Antonenko and Pinnick (eds), Russia and the European Union, p. 5 (emphasis added). 17 European Neighbourhood Policy, Strategy Paper, p. 4. For background on the evolution of the ENP see D. Lynch, 'From "Frontier" Politics to "Border" Policies between the EU and Russia', in Antonenko and Pinnick (eds), Russia and the European Union, p. 3. 18M. Emerson, 'The Shaping of a Policy Framework for the Wider Europe', Centre for European Policy Studies Policy Brief no. 39, September 2003, p. 2. 19See for example speech by Chizhov at conference 'Wider Europe: Strengthening Transborder Cooperation in Central and Eastern Europe', Kiev, 10 November 2003, at http://www.ln.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/sps/65AAD64C4BBC6E3D43256DDB0035165F (accessed 31 August 2004). 20 Wider Europe—Neighbourhood, p. 7. 21'The EU at our Gates', interview with deputy foreign minister V.A. Chizhov in Itogi, 27 April 2004, at http://www.ln.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/sps/79202193CE14FA24C3256E83002C2B8F (accessed 11 May 2004); Chizhov, 'Russia and the EU: Strategic Partnership'. 22Speech by deputy foreign minister V.A. Chizhov at conference 'Enlarging Europe: The New Agenda', Bratislava, 19 March 2004, at http://www.ln.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/sps/67D6F86FA4BAF9AEC3256E5D004D0963 (accessed 11 May 2004). 23Speech by deputy foreign minister V.A. Chizhov at conference 'Common Aims and Challenges of EU and Russian Foreign Policy', Berlin, 23 February 2004, at http://www.ln.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/sps/083FC6077C6D7D24C3256E43005E63D2 (accessed 27 February 2004). 24Speech by Chizhov at conference 'Wider Europe: Strengthening Transborder Cooperation in Central and Eastern Europe'. 25Chizhov, 'Russia and the EU: Strategic Partnership'. 26Notably reports on debates organised by Duma Deputy Vladimir Ryzhkov of the Committee 'Russia in a United Europe'; see The Current State of EU–Russia Relations and other reports at http://www.rue.ru/publications_e.htm. 27S.A. Karaganov (ed.), Relations between Russia and the European Union: Current Situation and Prospects, report by the Council of Foreign and Defence Policy, Moscow 2005, pp. 16–17. 28F. Luk'yanov, 'State of the Border', Vremya novostei, 9 December 2003. 29A. Drabkin, 'No Global Stability without a Strong Russia', Pravda, 2 June 2005, p. 3 (interview with Yu. Kvitsinskii, deputy of the Communist Party of the RF and first deputy chairman of the Duma International Affairs Committee). 30'Five Questions without an Answer', Sovetskaya Rossiya, 20 May 2004 (interview with Kvitsinskii). One leading Russian analyst notes that these attitudes can be traced back to the Soviet period when the European Community was seen as 'the economic extension of the military bloc of countries of the capitalist West', and that in general '[in] the 1990s, the European issue was not among the subjects of interest to the Russian political elite or media; expert opinion on the issue remained limited and practically uncalled for'; T. Bordachev, 'Russia's European Problem: Eastward Enlargement of the EU and Moscow's Policy, 1993–2003', in Antonenko and Pinnick (eds), Russia and the European Union, pp. 56–7. 31Comments by Aleksandr Prokhanov in 'A Plot against Russia?', Argumenty i fakty, 8 June 2005, p. 6. 32A. Baunov, 'How to Enter Europe', at http://www.globalrus.ru/opinions/134824 (accessed 14 February 2005). 33See N. Arbatova, 'A New Treaty with the European Union is a Vital Necessity', Nezavisimaya gazeta, 15 November 2004, p. 14; D. Danilov, 'Russia and European Security', in D. Lynch (ed.), What Russia Sees, Chaillot Paper no. 74 (Paris: EU Institute for Security Studies, January 2005) p. 90. 34 Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament on Relations with Russia, COM(2004) 106, 9 February 2004 at http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/russia/russia_docs/com04_106_en.pdf (accessed 20 February 2004); Report with a Proposal for a European Parliament Recommendation to the Council on EU–Russia Relations, European Parliament, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy, rapporteur Bastiaan Belder, A5-0053/2004 final, 2 February 2004, at http://www.europarl.eu.int/omk/sipade2?PUBREF = -//EP//NONSGML + REPORT + A5-2004-0053 + 0+DOC + PDF + V0//EN&L = EN&LEVEL = 2&NAV = S&LSTDOC = Y (accessed 10 September 2004). 35 Europe in the World: CFSP and its Relation to Development, speech by the Rt Hon Chris Patten, Overseas Development Institute, 7 November 2003 at http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/news/patten/sp07_11_03.htm (accessed February 2004). The rules for decision-making and the respective roles of the Commission for first pillar issues and of the Council for CFSP are of course different, but are not the subject of this paper. 36 European Security Strategy: A Secure Europe in a Better World, Brussels, 12 December 2003 at http://ue.eu.int/uedocs/cms_data/docs/2004/4/29/European%20Security%20Strategy.pdf (accessed December 2003). The ENP emphasises its support for the objectives of the ESS and states that those parts of the Action Plans relating to enhanced political cooperation and CFSP 'have been worked on and agreed jointly by the services of the Commission and the High Representative' (p. 2); the latter will be involved in assessing progress made by neighbours in fulfilling the Action Plans (p. 10). The ENP also commits the EU to increased efforts to settle conflicts in its neighbourhood (p. 6); it also puts forward specific foreign and security policy priorities which should form the basis for strengthened political dialogue with neighbours, opening up the possibility for them to become involved in aspects of CFSP and ESDP (p. 13). Finally, the Council accepted the Commission's recommendation that Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan be included in the neighbourhood strategy in line with the ESS's emphasis on the South Caucasus as a region in which the EU should take a 'stronger and more active interest' (p. 10). A more coherent policy has been put into practice in Georgia, where the Council began in July 2004 the deployment of an ESDP Rule of Law Mission at the same time as the Commission pledged a doubling of humanitarian and other assistance over the 2004–06 period; see Rt Hon Chris Patten, SPEECH/04/301, at the Georgia' Donors' Conference, Brussels, 16 June 2004 at http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/news/patten/sp04_301.htm (accessed 1 July 2004) and address by Javier Solana at the Conference of Ambassadors, Budapest, 27 July 2004, S0206/04 at http://ue.eu.int/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressdata/EN/discours/81579.pdf (accessed 31 August 2004). 37See A.J.K. Bailes, The European Security Strategy: An Evolutionary History, SIPRI Policy Paper no. 10 (Stockholm: International Peace Research Institute, February 2005) pp. 9, 23; Michael Emerson, The Wider Europe Matrix (Brussels: Centre for European Policy Studies 2004) p. 14. 38 EU–Russia Summit Joint Statement, 6 November 2003, annex IV, at http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/russia/summit11_03/4concl.pdf (accessed December 2003). 39Chizhov, 'European Union and CIS: New Outline for Cooperation'. 40See The European Union and the United Nations: The Choice of Multilateralism, Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament, COM(2003) 526 final, Brussels, 10 September 2003. 41 Nezavisimaya gazeta, 26 February 2004. 42G. Verheugen, EU Enlargement and the Union's Neighbourhood Policy, speech at the Diplomatic Academy, Moscow, 27 October 2003, at http://www.eur.ru/en/news_90.htm (accessed 15 April 2004; emphasis in original). 43Russian diplomats—continuing the foreign policy approach of the 1990s—are reported still to be concentrating on a 'hard nucleus of Europe' in which Moscow's bilateral relations with Paris and Berlin are used as the key forum to discuss European security issues; G. Sysoev, 'Geopolitics. Return of the Politburo', Kommersant-Daily, 2 April 2004. See also Bordachev, 'Russia's European Problem …', in Antonenko and Pinnick (eds), Russia and the European Union, pp. 53–4. 44 Report with a Proposal for a European Parliament Recommendation to the Council on EU–Russia Relations, pp. 8, 10, 20. 45 Speech by the Rt Hon Chris Patten, European Parliament Plenary Strasbourg, speech 04/398, 15 September 2004, at http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/news/patten/sp04_398.htm (accessed 1 November 2004). 46An interview with Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, in which he 'refused to discredit' Putin's Chechnya policy and stressed the importance of the economic and security relationship with Russia for Europe as a whole, was carried in the Russian daily Izvestiya, 9 October 2004; original article '"Ich habe nicht die Absicht, die Russland-Politik zu ändern"', Süddeutsche Zeitung, 1 October 2004, at http://www.sueddeutsche.de/deutschland/artikel/429/40389/3/ (accessed 14 February 2005). See also joint press conference on the outcome of the trilateral Franco-German–Russian meeting, Sochi, 31 August 2004, at http://www.elysee.fr/magazine/deplacement_etranger/sommaire.php?doc = /documents/discours/2004/0408RU01.html (accessed 27 October 2004). 47Chizhov, 'Russia and the EU: Strategic Partnership'. 48Speech by Russian President V.V. Putin at conference of Russian ambassadors and permanent representatives, 12 July 2004, at http://www.ln.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/sps/D90D89CE3886993AC3256ED00022077A (accessed 19 August 2004). 49The ENPI document is ambiguous, hinting at the withholding of assistance 'where a partner country fails to observe the principles referred to' and, with reference to TACIS funding, stating that 'conditionality should be linked to ongoing reform efforts' but recommending elsewhere that 'the issue of political conditionality should be approached cautiously, on the basis of lessons drawn from experience'; Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down General Provisions Establishing a European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument, Brussels, 29 September 2004, COM(2004) 628 final, 2004/0219 (COD), at http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/world/enp/pdf/getdoc_en.pdf, pp. 30, 31, 40 (accessed 10 November 2004). 50Russia's per capita share of TACIS assistance 2000–2003 was only _4.16, compared with _10.70 for Moldova and _8.94 for Ukraine; European Neighbourhood Policy, Strategy Paper, Annex, pp. 30–31. Emerson reports that development assistance per capita in the European neighbourhood 1995–2002 was _246 for the Balkans, _23 for the Mediterranean and only _9 for the European CIS, and points out that the more generous ENPI commitment still only constitutes Commission proposals which some member states may try to revise downwards; European Neighbourhood Policy: Strategy or Placebo?, working document no. 215 (Brussels: Centre for European Policy Studies, November 2004), pp. 11–12. 51Speech by deputy foreign minister V.A. Chizhov at Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs seminar, Helsinki, 9 June 2004, at http://www.ln.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/sps/695992DDA49271FCC3256EAE00520CBE (accessed 19 August 2004). 52As Hiski Haukkala argues, 'the very logic of the [Northern Dimension] is alien to Russian thinking about what kind of relationship is feasible with the EU'; 'The Northern Dimension of EU Foreign Policy', in Antonenko and Pinnick (eds), Russia and the European Union, p. 39. See also N. Smorodinskaya, 'Russia–EU: Hanging by a Thread', Vedomosti, 8 December 2004. 53 EU–Russia Summit Conclusions, Moscow, 10 May 2005, at http://europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/russia/summit_05_05/index.htm (accessed 25 June 2005). 54D. Suslov, 'Road Maps to Europe?', Russia Profile, 9 June 2005, at http://www.russiaprofile.org/international/article.wbp?article-id = 2B6C3F04-CCED-46B6-960E-5CD84528BE11 (accessed 14 June 2005). 55'The Russia–EU Common Space of External Security: Ambitions and Reality', Mirovaya ekonomika i mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya, no. 2 (2005), p. 38. 56'In spite of progress mentioned in The Hague on the formation of four common spaces … there is nothing like a partnership "based on common values and joint interests" … the Permanent Joint Council simply hasn't taken off. Moscow is striving not so much to bring its values closer as to establish quickly the specific rules of its relationship with the EU'; Smorodinskaya, 'Russia–EU: Hanging by a Thread'. 57Interview with Chizhov in RIA Novosti, 11 May 2005, at http://www.ln.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/sps/541A765D990F6F9AC32570010029B8C4 (accessed 24 May 2005). 58D. Lynch, 'Struggling with an Indispensable Partner', in Lynch (ed.), What Russia Sees, p. 126. 59Karaganov (ed.), Relations between Russia and the European Union: Current Situation and Prospects, p. 19. 60'Russia-European Union: Prospects for Mutual Relations', speech at international conference at the RF foreign ministry Diplomatic Academy, 15 March 2005, at http://www.ln.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/sps/8BB496BAF0E70E23C3256FCF0063BB45 (accessed 24 May 2005). 61Press conference with foreign ministry representative A.V. Yakovenko in connection with talks with the EU troika, at http://www.ln.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/sps/F002A60673C8BD3FC3256FB50043B206 (accessed 28 February 2005). 62N. Melikova, '"These People have brought the Spirit of Primitive Russophobia into the EU"', interview with Yastrembzhskii, Nezavisimaya gazeta, 17 November 2004. 63These issues are discussed in a very frank interview by foreign minister Lavrov with the German newspaper Handelsblatt; Russian version at http://www.ln.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/sps/EF9786E28F588A53C3256F7E002DD9CD (accessed 28 February 2005). 64'Road Map for the Common Space of External Security', pp. 42–3, at http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/russia/summit_05_05/finalroadmaps.pdf#es. 65'Road Map for the Common Space of External Security', pp. 42–3, at http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/russia/summit_05_05/finalroadmaps.pdf#es. p. 22. 66'Not Crisis but Misunderstanding in our Relations with the EU', interview with deputy foreign minister V.A. Chizhov, Nezavisimaya gazeta, 22 March 2004. 67See comments by Chizhov in The Current State of EU–Russia Relations, p. 18. 68Moscow has proposed 'at minimum' that all 25 EU member states agree to reciprocal five-year multi-entry visas along the lines of current arrangements with Germany; interview with V.A. Chizhov in Welt am Sonntag, 21 November 2004, in Russian at http://www.ln.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/sps/A79ECCC6252C847CC3256F54005F6661 (accessed 13 December 2004). 69Chizhov has stated that Romano Prodi mooted a date for a visa-free regime in the not too distant future—media sources suggest 2008—but that 'cautious officials' prevented it being written into protocols; 'The EU at our Gates'. 70See J. Apap and A. Tchorbadjiyska, What about the Neighbours? The Impact of Schengen along the EU's External Borders, working document no. 210 (Brussels: Centre for European Policy Studies, October 2004), pp. 1, 10. 71On this see C. Browning, 'The Internal/External Security Paradox and the Reconstruction of Boundaries in the Baltic: The Case of Kaliningrad', Alternatives 28/5 (2003), pp. 545–81. 72 Two Cheers for the European Neighbourhood Policy (Brussels: Centre for European Policy Studies, May 2004), at http://www.ceps.be/Article.php?article_id = 338& (accessed 1 July 2004). See note 18 above for Emerson's definition of 'Europeanisation', which is broadly accepted here. 73G. Gromadzki, O. Sushko, M. Wahl, K. Wolczuk and R. Wolczuk, Ukraine and the EU after the Orange Revolution, policy brief no. 60 (Brussels: Centre for European Policy Studies, December 2004), p. 3. 74'The question of Ukrainian entry into the EU is not on the agenda. But it is clear that we are not closing any doors … Precisely because the EU has a strong interest in relations with the Ukraine, we expect Ukraine to progress towards European values'; speech by Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Commissioner for External Relations and the European Neighbourhood Policy, Plenary Session of the European Parliament, Brussels, 1 December 2004, at http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/news/ferrero/2004/speech04_506_en.htm (accessed 13 December 2004). 75B. Ferrero-Waldner article, Weekly Mirror, 19 February 2005, at http://www.delukr.cec.eu.int/site/page34090.html (accessed 28 February 2005). 76Yushchenko has expressed his hopes to the European Parliament 'that before 2007 we can conclude negotiations on Ukraine's entry into the European Union'; S. Strokan, 'Diplomacy. Ukraine has overtaken America in Brussels', Kommersant-Daily, 24 February 2005, p. 10. 77European MEPs have called on 'the Council, the Commission and the Member States to consider, besides the measures of the Action Plan … other forms of association with Ukraine, giving a clear European perspective for the country … possibly leading ultimately to the country's accession to the EU'; The European Parliament and Ukraine, Brussels, 26 January 2005, at http://www2.europarl.eu.int/omk/sipade2?PUBREF = -//EP//TEXT + PRESS + BI-20050126-1 + 0+DOC + XML + V0//EN&LEVEL = 2&NAV = S (accessed 10 February 2005). 78'Democracy, International Governance and the Future World Order', Rossiya v global'noi politike 6 (2004), at http://www.ln.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/sps/CE2E42A30C8067BCC3256F770028A612 (accessed 28 February 2005). 79Interview with Handelsblatt. 80See L. Shevtsova, 'Russia in 2005: The Logic of Retreat. Main Trends in the Development of Power, the Economy, Social and Foreign Policy', Nezavisimaya gazeta, 25 January 2005, p. 1; S. Karaganov, 'The CIS and Unrecognised States', Rossiiskaya gazeta, 3 June 2005. 81Emerson refers to Poland's support for Ukraine and the Baltic states' initiatives, albeit as yet modest, in the three South Caucasus states; European Neighbourhood Policy: Strategy or Placebo?, p. 16. 82 European Neighbourhood Policy: The Next Steps, IP/05/236, Brussels, 2 March 2005, at http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/world/enp/pdf/country/ip05_236_en.pdf (accessed 14 March 2005). 83See statement by foreign ministry spokesman A.V. Yakovenko, 11 June 2005, at http://www.ln.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/sps/4F22FEBE28B09DADC3257020001FE079 (accessed 14 June 2005). 84Speech by Russian foreign minister S.V. Lavrov at the 12th session of the Council of OSCE foreign ministers, Sofia, 7 December 2004, at http://www.ln.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/sps/90A9B219C0F99159C3256F63003A18B5 (accessed 13 December 2004); comments by Russian foreign ministry information and press department regarding Europarliament's resolution on the situation in Georgia, at http://www.ln.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/sps/561F8E02817F4B90C3256F3400432706 (accessed 14 December 2004). 85See Emerson, The Wider Europe Matrix, pp. 31–2, 50–51. 86'The OSCE should become a real organisation for cooperation in Europe and not an instrument for democratisation of its irresponsible members, dividing its eastern European member states into teachers and pupils. It appears that some states consider the OSCE a mechanism for achieving their own political interests, primarily for bringing the post-Soviet space closer to what are passed off as common values but which are really only the values of Western civilisation'; interview of Chizhov with Vremya novostei. See also S. Lavrov, 'Reform will Enhance the OSCE's Relevance', Financial Times, 29 November 2004. 87Speech by V.A. Chizhov at international round-table to mark 30th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act, Moscow, 2 June 2005, at http://www.ln.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/sps/0D118D4CABFB9600C3257014004CCC40 (accessed 14 June 2005). 88As Emerson argues, 'The EU … does not at the same time rationalise its participation in (enduringly unsuccessful) mediation missions of the UN [in Georgia] and OSCE [in Moldova] … The EU could do a lot for the credibility of its role as conflict solving actor if it showed more resolve on the substance and clearer representation, rather than being mostly just a doctrinal commentator on the sides'; European Neighbourhood Policy: Strategy or Placebo?, p. 14. 89A.V. Yakovenko, 'Russia: The Course of Peace and Progress', Vneshneekonomicheskie svyazi, 10 (October 2004), at http://www.ln.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/sps/A7EFFF0065E7BD8CC3256F38003E2251 (accessed 14 December 2004). 90Chizhov, 'Russia and the EU: Strategic Partnership'. 91Chizhov, 'European Union and CIS: New Outline for Cooperation'. 92Arbatova, 'A New Treaty with the European Union is a Vital Necessity'. 93'Without Encroaching on our Neighbours' Sovereignty', Nezavisimaya gazeta, 23 May 2005. 94Interview of Russian foreign minister S.V. Lavrov with the Al-Jazeera television channel. Moscow, 10 September 2004, at http://www.ln.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/sps/F46FB12EAF628774C3256F0B005DD6EE (accessed 25 October 2004). 95This was stated in relation to the UK's granting of exile to Akhmed Zakaev and a Channel 4 transmission of an interview with Shamil Basaev, who is believed to have planned the Beslan assault; 'Announcement of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs', 4 February 2005, at http://www.ln.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/sps/0B78CB0AC3D99068C3256F9E002E956D (accessed 28 February 2005). 96Lavrov, 'Democracy, International Governance and the Future World Order'. 97D. Lynch, '"The Enemy is at the Gate": Russia after Beslan', International Affairs 81/1 (2005), p. 143. 98See comments by James Sherr in a survey of Western opinion on Chechnya: 'The EU and NATO may turn Chechnya into Kosovo', Nezavisimaya gazeta, 7 September 2004. 99 EU–Russia Summit Conclusions, 10 May 2005. 100A.J.K. Bailes, 'Is there a European Model of Security?', unpublished paper, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (emphasis in original). 101'Struggling with an Indispensable Partner', in Lynch (ed.), What Russia Sees, pp. 116, 124. 102Speech by Russian President V.V. Putin at conference of Russian ambassadors and permanent representatives, Moscow, 12 July 2004, at http://www.ln.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/sps/D90D89CE3886993AC3256ED00022077A (accessed 19 August 2004). 103Verheugen, EU Enlargement and the Union's Neighbourhood Policy. 104See Speech by the Rt Hon Chris Patten, European Parliament Plenary Strasbourg, 15 September 2004; Yu. Petrovskaya, 'Javier Solana: "The Priority for us Remains a Political Settlement in Chechnya"', Nezavisimaya gazeta, 27 September 2004. 105Interview with Russian minister of foreign affairs S.V. Lavrov, Vremya novostei, 9 September 2004, at http://www.ln.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/sps/A1541D9CFD06A222C3256F2C002BA754 (accessed 18 October 2004). Defence minister Sergei Ivanov has spoken in the same vein in a newspaper interview: 'Nobody has put it better than [tsar] Alexander III. As before we have two allies—the army and navy. We live today in a cruel world … And the reliable defence of our sovereignty can be guaranteed only by a strong army and navy and an efficient economy'; 'Russian defence minister Sergei Ivanov: If necessary we will carry out preventive strikes', Komsomol'skaya Pravda, 26 October 2004, p. 10. 106D. Trenin, 'Commentary. Beslan—New York: We Await a Reply', Vedomosti, 16 September 2004. 107'There will be no return to the "Cold War"', interview with Sergei Lavrov, Izvestiya, 11 February 2005, p. 1. 108Lavrov, 'Democracy, International Governance and the Future World Order'. Chizhov has summed up current thinking: 'One may predict that at a certain stage of the all-European process Russia will join the ranks of European economic integration. Though it is hard to assume that it will ever lose its identity (samobytnost'); then we would be talking about a different Russia, a different European Union and a new situation on the [European] continent and in the world. At this moment the agenda of our relations with an expanded European Union contains purely practical matters of strengthening the strategic partnership on an equal and mutually beneficial basis'; 'Russia and the EU: Strategic Partnership'. 10909. 'Address to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation', Moscow, 25 April 2005, at http://president.kremlin.ru/text/appears/2005/04/87049.shtml (accessed 23 May 2005). 110Speech at the Berlin forum 'Vision of Europe'. 111Shevtsova, 'Russia in 2005 …'. A similar argument is advanced by Dominique David, 'Russie/UE: une culture de securité commune?'. 112L. Shevtsova, The Moscow Times, 14 May 2004. See also Arbatova, 'A New Treaty with the European Union is a Vital Necessity'. Aleksei Pushkov describes Putin's system as 'moderate political authoritarian rule and limited market liberalism … what we see in Russia in 2005 is a qualitatively new development and reflects a deeply changed social and political reality'; 'Putin at the Helm', in Lynch (ed.), What Russia Sees, p. 59. 113Emerson, The Wider Europe Matrix, p. 60.