Does Europe Exist as an Entity for Military Cooperation? Evolving Russian Perspectives, 1991–2004

Abstract

A sea-change has taken place in Russian perspectives of Western European military integration since 1991. In the early 1990s, the Western European Union (WEU) and the European Union’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) were largely ignored in Russia. The Russia–WEU relationship was virtually non-existent, as was any discussion of the CFSP. According to Vladimir Baranovsky, “everything that related to the creation of Eurocorps or efforts to reanimate the WEU were viewed as not worthy of attention.” One reason for this was that existing European military mechanisms were not considered effective for the regulation of conflicts and crises. Indeed, according to politician Vladimir Ruizhkov, the question of a military relationship between Russia and Europe “a few years ago ... would have looked absurd.” Yet by 2003, European military integration—and Russian engagement with it—was considered to be among the most important priorities for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MID). Two main processes had raised Europe’s profile in military security discussions in Russia: the conflation of the WEU with the European Union (EU) and the intensification of the CFSP. These processes were seen to provide further arguments that the EU was becoming a serious international actor. Symptomatic of this shift in Russian perspectives, a military relationship between Russia and the EU has