Rosja wobec wymiaru wschodniego Europejskiej Polityki Sąsiedztwa Unii Europejskiej

Abstract

The development of cooperation between the European Union (EU) and six post-Soviet republics (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine) over the last two decades has evolved from the principles and mechanisms established under the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) to instruments and processes initiated with the inauguration of the Eastern Partnership programme. However, from the very beginning, the participation of partner countries in both of the above-mentioned EU cooperation proposals was very different. Belarus was not interested in participating in them, and the position of Armenia and Azerbaijan was ambivalent, and thus three countries (Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine) took full advantage of the EU cooperation offer. In particular, they signed Association Agreements with the European Union, including Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas, while committing themselves to internal political, economic and social reforms. In 2022, the prospect of EU membership was opened to them. In reaction to the rapprochement of Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine with the EU, the Russian Federation, treating the post-Soviet area as its own sphere of influence, used instruments such as political, economic and energy pressure, a trade embargo and military force against these countries. On the one hand, the Russian authorities emphasized the sovereign right of each state to develop relations with various partners, while on the other hand, they tried to limit the presence of Western structures in the post-Soviet area. Therefore, Moscow’s position on the ENP and the Eastern Partnership was critical, although initially the EU’s neighborhood policy was treated as a “natural aspiration” of the EU to establish a “forward-looking strategy for relations with the countries surrounding it”. Nevertheless, over time, the ENP, and later also its eastern dimension in the form of the Eastern Partnership, began to be perceived by Russia as a threat to its own national interests, recognizing that their goal is to separate the aforementioned post-Soviet republics from the Russian Federation, and thus to weaken its position in international relations.