ABSTRACT
Over the past 15 years, the EU–Russia interplay in Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus has drastically deteriorated. The chapter seeks to explain the drivers behind the clash of the EU’s and Russia’s policies in their ‘contested neighbourhood’. It points to the emergence – by the early 2010s – of region-building projects (the EU’s Eastern Partnership and Russia-driven Eurasian Economic Union [EAEU]) as a drastic change in both actors’ toolbox. The chapter argues that the spill-over of tensions which culminated in Ukraine in early 2014 finds its roots in both Russia’s concern over (what it regards as) an unacceptable EU encroachment into its ‘near abroad’ and reactions to the EU’s Eastern Partnership. The clash between the EU’s and Russia’s policies around deep economic integration has seemingly resulted in the emergence of a ‘divided neighbourhood’: while Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine are now associated with the EU; Armenia and Belarus are members of the EAEU; and Azerbaijan has remained on the sidelines of the two integration projects. However, the chapter argues that the picture is in fact much more complex, with dividing lines passing through the countries and multifaceted ties to both the EU and Russia in most countries.
