ABSTRACT
Introduction The previous chapter established the existence of certain clear differences between the European Union and Russia concerning the framing of the normative foundation of their institutionalized relationship. Yet the existence of differences at the level of abstract worldviews tells us nothing about their salience. In order to gauge their significance we must look at concrete cases, actual practices and the dialectics of power where these differences are being played out. This chapter examines one of the key periods when the lack of commonality between the two became highly visible: the first phase of the Second Chechen War from August 1999 to June 2000. The period and the outcome of the crisis are highly relevant for the story that has been unfolding in these pages as they represent the key occasion when the EU has sought to sanction and coerce Russia into accepting its ideas concerning the post-sovereign nature of the institutionalized arrangements between the two actors.
