Areas of Disagreement and Rivalry between the EU and Russia

After the Cold War, relationships among the European countries and Russia entered into a new phase. Despite the rise in of interactions between Brussels and Moscow through cooperation agreements, 1994 Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, Energy Roadmap 2050, and other partnerships in such regards as fighting against terrorism and WMDs, these two actors are in wide divergences and rivalries in some areas. Although economic significance of Russia for Europe has been on the rise during recent years, there have been major vicissitudes in political relations. In its new presidency period of Putin, Russia has been making fresh attempts to gain its previous position. In many cases, however, Moscow’s interests and values are put in stark contrast with those of Europe’s. In the present study, divergence and rivalry dimensions between the EU and Russia are to be investigated. Areas like energy (in spite of interdependencies), renovation, South Caucasus, common neighborhood, and security are, as believed by the authors, confronting major disagreements.