ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the relationship between national identities and foreign policy discourses concerning Russia in selected member states of the European Union. Since the beginning of the Ukraine crisis and the annexation of Crimea in March 2014, Russia has returned to the centre stage of European political debates. Analysts and politicians have argued that in 2014 ‘the European security system established in the wake of the Cold War collapsed in a spectacular manner’, and described the ensuing confrontation between Russia and the West as ‘the most profound menace to European security for many decades’. The focus on the national level in this book should not lead to the assumption that the concept of European identity can simply be dismissed. A feeling of attachment to Europe and to the political structures of the European Union is observable both among European elites and citizens, however weak and inconsistent it might be.
