Abstract
The Russian military attack against Ukraine was the most aggressive development in Europe after the Cold War. The EU and its western allies, applied sanctions against Russia, but could not compel Moscow to comply with the Minsk agreement, which not only highlights the weaknesses of the EU's CFSP owing to the internal friction between those states which have soft stance on Russia and those which have hardline approach against it in the EU process to impose the penalty packages, but also damage credibility of the EU which has discouraged countries seeking EU membership. Russia, which believes that the expansion of the EU and NATO to its vicinity undermines its core security interests, has adopted an aggressive diplomatic policy and engaged itself in international issues to break the containment policy of the west, that gave Russia a leverage to divide western countries on the issue of sanctions posing threat to the fundamental western interest.
Highlights
Background of the StudyKyiv faced a clear dilemma: either signing the Eurasian Customs Union, or accede to the Association Agreement with the European Union (EU)
Ukraine in general is important for Kremlin, Crimea is important from the strategic perspective
The EU's credibility is undermined when its member states failed to formulate a coherent policy against Russia.France, Germany and Italy are more interested in bilateral relations withRussia.These bonds were built on common economic and energy interests, through which the Member States sought to stimulate their commerce with Russia or to obtain preferential energy prices.Certain CEEC Member States are very sensitive to Moscow's use of energy and prices as policy tools (Cristian, 2016)
Summary
Kyiv faced a clear dilemma: either signing the Eurasian Customs Union, or accede to the Association Agreement with the European Union (EU). Being a part of the Association Agreement would mean a strong economic relationship with the west i.e.EU, whereas being a signatory of the Eurasian Customs Union would mean a closer economic integration with Russia and former Soviet Union Member countries, further strengthening its existing historical links (Crozet, & Hinz, 2020). Russia sees the extension of the European Union through Eastern Partnership initiative and expansion of NATO through military alliances to its borders as an effort to minimize its interest in its vicinity, and a threat to its national security (Kapoor, 2021, March 11). “We have already heard declarations from Kiev about Ukraine soon joining NATO What would this have meant for Crimea and Sevastopol in the future? The resolution considered the referendum in Crimea invalid and asked all member states not to acknowledge the Crimean annexation and to stand for Ukraine’s territorial integrity. (United Nation General Assembly, 2014, April 1)
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