ABSTRACT
Russian perceptions of Northern Europe in the post-Cold War era have been rather contradictory and embracing a more post-sovereign agenda of regional cooperation has been a particularly difficult task. Russia’s political and academic communities were basically taken by surprise by regional initiatives such as the Northern Dimension project and the Northern European Initiative (NEI). To better understand what is going on in the North and to understand some of the rather fundamental challenges Russia faces there, it is useful to elaborate somewhat on the various and multiple cooperative policy initiatives and institutional mechanisms that have been instigated since the end of the Cold War. Problems and obstacles to regional cooperation can be identified on both the EU and Russian side. The post-Cold War period brought fundamental changes both in Russian foreign policy thinking and strategies towards the North European region.
