EU-Russia Research Articles

Perspectives of mobility development in remote areas attractive to tourists

This paper addresses the problem of transport systems in remote areas, defined by a set of constraints deriving from a sparse population, infrequent transportation location means stops and cost-effectiveness of the system. Remote areas attractive to tourists additionally require transportation services designed with respect to changeable demand and the necessity to provide transportation solutions limiting detrimental influence on the environment. This paper aims to identify and assess the perspectives for developing innovative mobility solutions for residents and tourists in remote areas in line with sustainable development and evaluate factors supporting or hindering the development of the selected perspectives. The results of a Delphi study with 23 experts from seven EU Member States, Russia and Norway, enabled the identification of factors shaping the future of mobility in peripheral areas, including IT-supported multimodal transport systems, demand-responsive transport and transport services tailored to the specific needs of different user groups.

The Securitized Energy Relationship

The subject of energy security in the international arena came to the platform with the increasing economic and globalization development in the framework that is called the 'untraditional security'. In today’s international relations, Energy security and security issues appear to be extremely intertwined. Hence, this paper aims to identify the significance of securitization of the energy relationship between Russia and EU countries by both sides and its influence on the Energy Security on the regional security complex between EU countries and Russia. The current study argues that, regardless of the magnitude of the energy relationship, which manifests itself in a high degree of interdependence between the two sides, their relationship saw dispute, because of a high level of securitization process initiated by both EU member states and Russia.

Income and wealth distribution in the European Union and Russia: comparativ analysis

The subject of the study is the features of economic relations between income and wealth distribution/redistribution in Europe and Russia from the perspective of the need to overcome excessive socio-economic inequality. The aim of the article is to determine the level of existing socio-economic inequality, to make cross-country comparisons of income and wealth differentials in society, and then to substantiate the possibilities of applying the best practices of foreign countries to reduce socio-economic inequality in Russia. The methods of research are philosophical (dialectical, critical), general scientific (methods of scientific abstraction, the unity of the historical and logical, analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, analogy, classification), private scientific (economic and mathematical, statistical, functional). The theoretical significance of the study lies in the development of the theory and methodology of A. Ya. Kiruta and A. Yu. Shevyakov on excessive inequality. The recommendations proposed by the authors to reduce excessive inequality in Russia represent the practical significance. The study shows that the EU countries, which are characterized by smooth income distribution, are extremely unequal in wealth distribution. The Russian economy has excessive levels of inequality in terms of both income and wealth. At the same time, there is a polarization of Russian society and a concentration of income in the hands of the upper percipient. The Gini coefficient, the Kaitz index, and the ratio of median and minimum wages demonstrate the extreme degree of inequality in income distribution among Russians. The research investigates the losses from existing levels of inequality in the EU countries and Russia through changes in human development indices. The authors conclude that socio-economic policy aimed at reducing excessive inequality in Russia should be based on the principle of social federalism. Russia needs a comprehensive strategy to combat social stratification and a consistent policy aimed at the formation of a full-fledged middle class. The authors consider it necessary to introduce in Russia a non-taxable minimum income tax, a progressive scale of gift and inheritance taxes, and the introduction of a new wealth tax.

Ownership structure and firm performance in emerging markets: A comparative meta-analysis of East European EU member states, Russia and China

Using a total of 4425 estimates collected from 204 previous studies, this paper presents a meta-analysis performed to compare East European EU member states, Russia and China in terms of the relationship between ownership structure and firm performance. The results indicate that, as the standard theory predicts, state ownership negatively influences the performance of firms the state invests in, while the presence of domestic outside investors and foreign investors as company owners positively affects firm performance irrespective of the difference in country/region. Furthermore, we also found that ownership of managers tends to exert a positive impact on the performance of their owned firms. Overall, however, the linkage between corporate ownership and performance is weak. This finding implies that, in comparison with advanced economies, management discipline by investors is less sufficient in emerging markets.

Some problems of security management of “Smart cities” and ways to solve them based on the criteria modeling methodology

In the EU countries, South Korea, China, Russia and India, smart city technologies are being introduced that allow improving the efficiency of critical infrastructure management. In large systems with many critical components, such as smart cities, there are always a huge number of threats and vulnerabilities. Often in such cases, a security system is built against a limited number of threats and vulnerabilities. It is necessary to control not how vulnerable, but how thorough, high-quality, reliable security systems are. And if they are not controlled, then large cognitive distortions can appear in security management. Criteria modeling methodology) allow us to solve this problem and ensure the efficient functioning of a smart city. Criteria modeling methods make it possible to significantly facilitate the control of security and stability of the entire set of cybernetic systems and smart city technologies. The article describes a criteria modeling methodology that allows you to identify and take control of all threats and vulnerabilities, and above all those that cannot be eliminated. This methodology is described and the benefits of using it in smart city security management are given. The application of this methodology makes it possible to prevent the occurrence of cognitive distortions in security management, control existing vulnerabilities and timely redistribute resources allocated to security.

EU Eastern Partnership, Hybrid Warfare and Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine

EU Eastern Partnership, Hybrid Warfare and Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine

Great Powers in Central and Eastern Europe: Dynamics and Prospects

The United States, EU members, and Russia share extensive and important interests in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) in terms of geo-security, energy, and values. The US–EU–Russia trilateral interaction in this region features three characteristics: intensifying security competition between Washington and Moscow; closer transatlantic coordination against Russia; and growing wariness about China’s larger economic footprint. New changes have taken place in the regional distribution of power amid continued China–US competition, increasingly diverging values among the United States, Germany, and CEE countries like Poland and Hungary, and heightening geopolitical tensions between Washington and Germany on the one hand and Russia on the other. China–CEEC (CEE countries) cooperation is also coming under mounting geopolitical pressure, owing to Washington’s containment policy toward China, the EU’s weakening control over the CEE countries, Russia’s shift from a defensive to an offensive posture in response to Western sanctions, the new German government’s values-based diplomacy, and the European Commission’s new China policy. However, the transatlantic world is not a monolith. The EU’s weakening control over CEE countries and Washington’s deteriorating relations with Poland and Hungary are bringing potential opportunities for furthering China–CEEC cooperation. The aforementioned factors merit closer attention as important variables in CEE countries’ China policies.

Promoting Democracy or Overcoming the Crisis: Poland’s Political and Ideological Influence on Ukraine in its Crisis

The article deals with Poland’s political and ideological influence towards Ukraine in the conditions of its crisis, emphasizing the question whether these efforts have been made due to reasons of democracy promotion, mainly of European origin, or Ukraine crisis overcoming. The article consists of two parts: 1) Polish political and ideological influence on Ukraine during the development of Ukraine crisis 2013-2014, which took place in the conditions of the Euromaidan and the Revolution of Dignity and in the context of the EU democracy promotion endeavors towards Ukraine; 2) Poland’s efforts to prevent spreading of Russia’s authoritarianism in the context of hybrid war between Russia and Ukraine during 2014-2020. The Ukrainian crisis is closely linked to the spread of democracy, the EU integration and Russian ideological influence. Terminologically, we support the research position in the interpretation of the Ukrainian crisis as a socio-political unrest, which began in late November 2013. The main hypothesis implies that the external democracy promotion could be more effective in the case of domestic crisis in the recipient country. Therefore, the Ukrainian crisis of 2013-2020 is an interesting case to determine the capabilities of the main donors for the external democracy promotion for the target countries, in our case, Ukraine. Poland took an active part both in promoting democracy towards Ukraine and in overcoming Ukraine crisis, using its own political and ideological resources. We consider the Ukrainian crisis and the post-crisis process as an important motivating factor that plays an important role to strengthen the democratic aspirations of Ukrainian society. Moreover, the participation of external forces, especially of the consolidated West is a significant factor in this process.

The process of reconciliation between Serbia and Kosovo and the international legal strategies of the EU States, the USA, and Russia(with particular emphasis on the activities of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers)

The aim of this article is to analyse the international legal and political process of reconciliation between Serbia and Kosovo in terms of its impact on the scope of development directions and strategies of the European Union countries as well as Russia and the USA. Particular emphasis was placed on the treatment of these issues in the light of the activities of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office. The main theses assumed for the purposes of this article are as follows: firstly, that the policy of reconciliation between Serbia and Kosovo is multidimensional, including the necessity of the process of international criminal liability for the crimes committed by both states, while at the same time influencing the dilemmas of the development directions of individual European countries, but also of the European Union and the United States. In addition, the legal and political stabilization of the Balkan region, especially in the context of relations between Kosovo and Serbia, and the possibility of cooperation with these states as part of intergovernmental international organizations, is strategically extremely important for the EU, the USA, as well as for Russia. The Author critically analyses issues using polemics with the standpoint presented in the doctrine of the subject as well as interpreting selected instruments of international law and Kosovo’s national law. The deliberations resulted in conclusions as to the determinants in terms of the directions of the legal and political development of the EU and Russia resulting from the complicated process of reconciliation and mutual settlement of sins by Serbia and Kosovo.

EU-Russia Energy Dialogue: economic and political dimensions

Against the background of strong and long-standing energy interdependence between the European Union and Russia, the two partners agreed in 2000 to launch the Energy Dialogue, which was intended to intensify their cooperation and to eliminate related problems. The political and economic dimensions of the EU–Russia Energy Dialogue are presented and studied in this article. The aim is to analyse the scale of their impact on the basis of some important projects within this dialogue, taking into account the overall context. The results of conducted analysis demonstrate that while this comprehensive instrument for jointly creating the future of the two co-dependent partners should bring apparent improvements, its functionality is hindered by various economic and political factors. The latter, in particular, have had a significant impact, putting the Energy Dialogue on hold, not lastly with the outbreak of the Ukrainian crisis and growing bilateral and multilateral political tensions. Today, 20 years after the commissioning of this seemingly so fruitful platform of the Energy Dialogue, we are looking at a very disappointing intermediate assessment. Various problems of the Energy Dialogue hinder not only cooperation development based on trust, legal norms and understanding, but also existing and partly active projects, such as the Roadmap EU–Russia Energy Cooperation until 2050 and Nord Stream 2, which are being pushed into the uncertain future. However, in view of existing and possible further projects in the energy sector, it is necessary to create the functional dialogue format.

Labor separation trends in growing environmental demands

The EU countries, Russia and Ukraine have become participants in the global division of labor in an environment of increasing environmental requirements. In the EU, legislation provides for compliance with the conditions for a harmonious relationship between the number of animals and the size of the land plot. In Ukraine and Russia, every year the number of enterprises is decreasing, and the concentration of animals is concentrated on huge farms, whose activities do not fit into any environmental standards. In terms of the density of the conditional livestock per 1 hectare of agricultural land, in 2017 Ukraine moved to the 183rd place among the countries of the world, and Russia to the 190th place. The countries of the world are divided into those that supply raw materials – cereals and oilseeds and their processing products, and others – engaged in subsequent refinement, re-export or processing, the production of compound feed, livestock products and the export of finished products – meat, dairy products, highly productive animals, etc. In 2019, compared to 1992, grain exports in Ukraine and Russia increased by 39.5 million tons, and 39.8 million tons, respectively. As a result of the implementation of the strategy associated with the reduction of the sown areas of labor-intensive crops and the increase in the export of fodder resources, the employment of the rural population compared to 1991 decreased by more than 10 times. Russia and Ukraine are not capable at the present stage of exporting pork of meat high-performance genotypes.

The problem of staffing for the digital transformation of the entrepreneurial sector and the directions of its solutions

The active development of digitalization can have a significant impact on the formation of competitive advantages of organizations in the entrepreneurial sector, which was clearly manifested with the onset of the pandemic. The generalization of the results of business surveys in the entrepreneurial sector of the EU countries and Russia, presented in the work, revealed that the problem of staffing occupies a prominent place among the constraints on the development of digital transformations. It is shown that the current situation is characterized by an increasing demand for qualified specialists in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for various sectors of the economy against the background of a low level of digital skills in the workplace. At the same time, both in the entrepreneurial sector of the EU countries and in Russia, the coverage of organizations with advanced digital technologies is insignificant, in contrast to the basic segment technologies. Using the principal components method, generalized characteristics were constructed for reflecting the active use of advanced digital technologies in various fields, which made it possible to further assess their relationship with the set of indicators of investment in human capital. The implemented approach showed promising directions for solving the problem of staffing the digitalization of the business sector, which seems relevant for both Russian and European entrepreneurship.

The making of a narrative: The use of geopolitical othering in Russian strategic narratives during the Ukraine crisis

The events of the crisis in Ukraine (2013–2014) have created an unprecedented rift in EU–Russia relations. The focal point is often put on the long-term development of mutual frustrations due to clashing initiatives in the shared neighbourhood and an overall atmosphere of mistrust. This article makes the case that the culmination of mutual frustrations made its way into official communication and led to the embedding of elements of ‘geopolitical othering’ in Russia’s narrative on the events in Ukraine. Throughout the various stages of the conflict, representations of the role played by the EU became a recurring theme in Russia’s narrative on Ukraine’s choice between the EU and accession to the ECU. While the presence of geopolitical othering did seem to provide a stabilizing effect on the narrative, the countries’ embedded nature led to the rapid development of contentious communication, complicating potential narrative convergence between both actors.

TRANSFORMATION OF THE STRUCTURE OF LABOR IN RUSSIA AND EUROPE IN THE MODERN CONDITIONS OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

The efficiency of the labor market functioning directly depends on a qualitative analysis of the existing structure of the labor force. The article presents the results of the analysis of the influence of the main trends in economic development on the structure of the labor force. The absolute changes and the share in the structure of the employed are calculated, which characterize the labor force of the EU countries and Russia. A comparative analysis of the existing relationships in the structure of the labor force of Russia and the EU countries is carried out. According to the results of the study, it was concluded that structural changes in the economy, acceleration of technological and social changes lead to a reduction in low-skilled employees, an increase in the group of highly qualified workers.

What’s in a tweet? Twitter’s impact on public opinion and EU foreign affairs

This paper uses text mining and sentiment analysis of Twitter posts to explore the EU’s diplomatic communication practices and to measure public opinion on foreign affairs. Building on an original dataset of almost one million tweets from the past five years, this analysis reveals differences in public perceptions of the EU’s relationship with China, India and Russia. Attitudes are most positive in the case of the EU–India relationship, followed by EU–China and EU–Russia. Furthermore, the paper examines hundreds of official EU Twitter accounts, specifically their communications on diplomatic relations with these countries. A main finding is that the EU talks about its diplomatic relations in more positive terms than the wider public, though this verbal politeness effect is less pronounced in the case of EU–Russia relations.

How Far Away Are World Economies from Circularity: Assessing the Capacity of Circular Economy Policy Packages in the Operation of Raw Materials and Industrial Wastes

Nowadays, circular economy (CE) is on the agenda, however, this concept of closed supply chains originated in the 1960s. The current growing quantity of studies in this area accounts for different discourses except the holistic one, which mixes both approaches—contextual and operating (contextual approach utilizes the thorough examination of the CE theory, stricture of the policy, etc.; the operating one uses any kind of statistical data)—to assess the capacity of circular economy regulatory policy packages (CERPP) in operating raw materials and industrial wastes. This article demonstrates new guidelines for assessing the degree level of capacity (DLC) of CERPPs in the operation of raw materials and industrial wastes by utilizing the apparatus of the fuzzy set theory. It scrupulously surveys current CERPPs in three regions: the EU overall, Finland and Russia; and assesses for eight regions—the EU overall, Finland, Russia, China, Greece, France, the Netherlands and South Korea—the DLC of CERPPs in operating raw materials and industrial wastes. The results show that EU is the best in CE policy and its CERPP is 3R. The following are South Korea and China with the same type of CERPP. Finland, France and the Netherlands have worse results than EU with the type of CERPP called “integrated waste management” because of the absence of a waste hierarchy (reduce, recover, recycle). Russia closes the list with the type of CERPP “basic waste management”.

The Empirical Evidence of the EU–Russia Failed Strategic Partnership: Did it have a Positive Impact on Bilateral Trade?

Many observers were casting doubts about the existence of a strategic partnership between Russia and the European Union long before the annexation of Crimea and the subsequent strained relations between the two blocs. Nevertheless, the main challenge of this article is to prove that there was indeed a positive effect regarding the strategic partnership on bilateral trading – together with such factors as the growth of the Russian and EU GDPs per capita, the devaluation of the Russian currency and the oil price increase – by applying the Gravity Model. Based on this model, it was also confirmed that there was a negative effect of the geographical distance and sanctions between parties on the EU–Russia trade flow. Moreover, we tried to predict by means of the Error Correction Models how EU–Russia bilateral trade would have changed according to a scenario wherein the parties continued being strategic partners, and had the sanctions not been imposed. As such, and by the method described, not only was it empirically confirmed that the major partners would have received the most benefit from the strategic partnership with Russia but even Russia’s smaller trading partners are incurring significant welfare losses from sanctions, along with Russia itself.

Strengthening the EU’s resilience to hybrid threats

Against the backdrop of the deterioration of EU–Russia relations in recent years, there has been a shift in the awareness of hybrid threats all across the Union. At the same time, there is evidence of a growing political will to strengthen resilience to these threats. While hostile foreign actors have long deployed hybrid methods to target Europe, Russia’s intervention in Ukraine in 2014, interference in the 2016 US presidential election, and repeated cyber-attacks and disinformation campaigns aimed at EU member states have marked a turning point, exposing Western countries’ unpreparedness and vulnerability to these threats. This article analyses the EU’s resilience to hybrid warfare from institutional, regulatory and societal perspectives, with a particular focus on the information space. By drawing on case studies from member states historically at the forefront of resisting and countering Russian-backed disinformation campaigns, this article outlines the case for a whole-of-society approach to countering hybrid threats and underscores the need for EU leadership in a standard-setting capacity.

Экологический ракурс пандемии COVID-19: новый шанс для “зеленой” экономики

The article investigates the changes in environment that occurred in response to economic processes during the COVID‑19 pandemic (2019–2021), and related transformation of socio-political attitudes towards Green Policy and Green Economy. From the environmentalistic point of view, the pandemic played a twofold role. On the one part, it allowed the nature to “take a break” from an excessive anthropogenic pressure on the atmosphere and hydrosphere, and once again mobilized the humanity to reconsider the principles of interaction with the environment. On the other part, different types of pollution (daily and medical waste, plastic) increased dramatically; funding of international and national environmental programs was cut due to the economic recession worldwide. Nevertheless, the multidimensional crisis caused by the pandemic gave a new chance to the Green Economy. The most influential states of the world (the EU countries, USA, China and Russia) actively implement the Green Economy instruments at the state level. This process incorporates all economy sectors: finances, energy, industry, transport, agriculture and other. The European Union which had taken this path before the pandemic started is in an advanced position. At the same time, the foundations of the future environment-oriented economic policy are already enshrined in official documents (strategies, action plans, legislative acts, etc.) adopted by the leading nations thus far. Noteworthy is that the COVID‑19 crisis has updated the green political and economic agenda globally, regardless of differences between the states, which verifies the importance and necessity of agreeing a conceptually new approach to interaction with the environment in the short and long term.

Погляд викладачів журналістики в перехідному суспільстві на майбутнє професії: порівняння України, Росії та Європейського Союзу

Ukraine as a transition country experiences various challenges in its social, educational, economic, cultural and media sectors: unstable economy, ongoing armed conflict in the Eastern Ukraine, partial reluctance in accepting reforms. Journalism education in Ukraine undergoes a complex transformation supported by national government and foreign projects including Erasmus+ CBHE DESTIN. The purpose of this research is to explore the views of j-schools teachers as key stakeholders on the future tasks, trends and ethical issues of the profession. The study is based on results of a survey conducted by the European Journalism Training Association and the World Journalism Education Council in different world countries, including EU states, Ukraine, and Russia. The article concentrated on comparing and investigating correlations between Ukrainian, Russian and European educators’ views to the same set of questions. The results show that in all three categories of analysis – tasks, trends, ethics – there is a stronger consensus between Ukrainian and Russian teachers than there is between Ukrainian teachers and their European colleagues. All teachers believe in importance of reliability and verification of information, are in favor of a strong sense of responsibility and of less commercialism in journalism and share a strong ethical disapproval of misleading the audiences, for instance by altering photos or quotes. However, Ukrainian and Russian teachers share a somewhat higher appreciation of journalists as disseminators, whereas European educators put more emphasis on the journalistic investigator role. With regard to ethics a main difference is that Europeans see paying or getting money from sources as unacceptable, whereas this practice is more tolerated in Ukraine and Russia.