scholarly journals EU’s Resilience in the Eastern Partnership Region vs Russia’s Hybrid Aggression

Author(s):  
Oleh Kozachuk ◽  
Grigore Vasilescu

The article examines the issues of counteracting the hybrid aggression of the Russian Federation in the countries of the Eastern Partnership. It is stated that European Union has been implementing the Eastern Partnership policy for more than ten years. This implementation has been a resounding success for all, without exception, the six target states. Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Georgia have advanced much more in their European aspirations. However, this does not stop the Russian Federation from further positioning all the states that were once part of the USSR as a sphere of its ultimate influence. Russia is also producing rivalry with the EU for influencing all, without exception, the Eastern Partnership states and even the EU. An overview of academic research analyzing the resilience of the EU in the face of Russia in the context of its impact on the Eastern Partnership countries is set out in this article. Some approaches have been used to define the EU as a “normative power” and Russia’s controversial policy towards neighbouring countries. The examination of the works described in the article concludes that the Russian Federation continues to regard neighbouring states as its sphere of influence, particularly Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia. Moscow considers any attempt by a third party to interfere as an intrusion on its unique field of power. As can be observed from the investigated sources, Russia’s activities are scarcely diplomatic or focused on global democratic norms. In its Eastern Partnership strategy, the EU, on the other hand, utilizes values as a guideline. Simultaneously, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, and Georgia must demand immediate modifications to the Eastern Partnership policy. The potential of EU membership, in particular, must be appropriately explained by Brussels.

2017 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 126-150
Author(s):  
Katarina Ristic

The paper examines the limits of the European Union policy making towards the Eastern Neighbours, as well as towards the Russian Federation. In-depth analyses of the existing contractual relations proved that the EU neighborhood policy is a nonfunctional mixture of foreign policy interventionism, enlargement policy and conditionality instruments. The article has found that high economic interests, security and peace intentions and fight against the global threats in the Eastern Neighborhood are not subject to the typical EU conditionality, since proven instruments work only under the umbrella of the enlargement policy and membership prospect. The author has concluded that the EU will have to look old/new form of partnerships for the neighborhood countries in order to keep stability, peace and security around its borders. Current relations with the Eastern Partnership countries are neither developed, neither confident, despite the hybrid legal frameworks with some of them. A vital strategic partner in the East remains the Russian Federation, and it is expected that relations in the Eastern Neighborhood will be adjusted to the current position of Russia in this region. This can not be dependent, even of the membership prospect for Ukraine, Moldova or Georgia, which seems to be inadequate offer at the moment, like it was at all the previous historical moments and developments. New agreements signed with these three countries did not help prevent conflicts, tensions, or the huge pro-Russian opposition in these countries. Implementation of comprehensive Association Agreements/Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreements are yet to come, and these countries still lack democratic and efficient governance, and implementation of the number of paragraphs from the previous Partnership and Cooperation Agreements. PCAs are still in force with the rest of the countries of the Eastern Partnership (except Belarus). DCFTA Agreement with Ukraine is not yet ratified by all EU member states (Netherlands).


2021 ◽  
pp. 177-192
Author(s):  
Nicole BODISHTEANU

The author considers main external and internal factors of the formation of the Eurasian track in foreign policy of the Republic of Moldova from 2009 to 2020. Among main internal factors of the development of the Eurasian (as opposed to European) track of foreign policy, the author singles out: 1) coming to power of the pro-Russian president I. Dodon; 2) current orientation of the economy on the market of the CIS countries; 3) pro-Western parliamentary contingent and representatives of the Party of Action and Solidarity led by M. Sandu, who, on the contrary, helps to blur this track. Among external factors, the author does put an accent on: 1) the influence of the Ukrainian crisis on public opinion of Moldovan citizens towards Western institutions, and as a result, the growing popularity of the «pro-Russian» foreign policy direction; 2) «soft power» of the Russian Federation, mostly concentrated on a common language (Russian) and cultural values (literature, historical past, etc.); 3) willingness of Eurasian partners (mainly the Russian Federation) to provide assistance in crisis situations at no cost, unlike European and Western institutions, which traditionally indicate a number of democratic transformations in the recipient country as one of the conditions for providing assistance. The author comes to the conclusion that the Eurasian track of the foreign policy of the Republic of Moldova is still in its «infancy», but it has great potential and promises interesting prospects for a small state with a favorable geographical position, located at the crossroads of the most important transport routes between the West and the East.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 168-177
Author(s):  
Lidia Prisac

The article reveals the historiographical approach of Transnistrian separatism in the works of pro-separatist authors, Russian and those publicized in the Eastern part of the Republic of Moldova. The author presents the works that appeared until 2005. As it is ascertained, researchers dwell upon the Transnistrian separatism problem from the position of the environment they were rooted in, projecting their research results on the present and the future, or out of the need to aliment and decode their identity, to feed their imagination. The pro-separatist historiography includes the same ideas regarding the MSSR history. This means nothing but “the translation” of the past into present or the mechanic and passionate protection of the present into the past, the positive or negative capitalization of historical events, or decline in the run of deformation and fabrication in pro-separatist historiography was produced due to an ideological approach of the Transnistrian problem. Albeit, generally speaking, all authors both from Transnistria and the Russian Federation recognize the impact of the Russian Federation in generating and perpetuating the Transnistrian separatism.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nataliia Lyuta ◽  
Iryna Sanina ◽  
Olga Biarozka ◽  
Olga Vasniova ◽  
Andreas Scheidleder ◽  
...  

<p>The EU-funded program European Water Initiative Plus for Eastern Partnership Countries (EUWI+), which is the biggest commitment of the EU to the water sector in the EaP countries, helps Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine to bring their legislation closer to EU policy in the field of water management, with a main focus on the management of transboundary river basins. It supports the development and implementation of pilot river basin management plans, building on the improved policy framework and ensuring a strong participation of local stakeholders.</p><p>In 2019, with the support of EUWI+, groundwater experts from Ukraine and the Republic of Belarus identified transboundary groundwater bodies (GWBs) in the Dnipro River Basin of Ukraine and the Republic of Belarus. In total eight (3 unconfined and 5 confined) transboundary GWBs in Ukraine were identified as transboundary linked with six GWBs in Belarus. As some of these GWBs are significantly large, follow-up studies in 2020 aimed at identifying those sub parts of the GWBs which are subject to transboundary groundwater interaction. Finally, on both sides of the border, transboundary corridors at a distance of 50 km from the state border were identified as sub-zones of the existing large GWBs. This distance was chosen to capture the recharge areas of the zone of active water exchange (watersheds) and the areas of groundwater discharge (river valleys).</p><p>The investigated transboundary territory is located in Polissia, a zone of excessive moisture, where the GWBs are mainly recharged by precipitation - the unconfined GWBs all over the whole territory, the confined GWBs at places where shallow water-bearing rocks occur. In the transboundary zone, the regional recharge area is located in the Ukrainian Shield; most of the aquifers are recharged on its slopes. The direction of groundwater flow is from the Ukrainian Shield towards the artesian basins in Belarus. </p><p>The Ukrainian part of the territory, where the confined aquifers are recharged, is characterised by minor anthropogenic pressures - very low population density and no large industrial enterprises. Therefore, impacts from the Ukrainian side on the GWBs in Belarus are limited. In contrast, the border area in the Republic of Belarus is one of its most developed industrial regions.</p><p>The analysis showed that the groundwater monitoring network in the Ukrainian 50-km transboundary zone has practically been destroyed due to long-term underfunding and it requires substantial restoration. In Belarus, the monitoring network is quite representative and requires some improvements; in some GWBs  the monitoring network is unevenly distributed and in some GWBs, the number of monitoring wells is insufficient</p><p>Within this study a comprehensive set of analytical material on geological-hydrogeological, hydrogeochemical, hydrodynamic aspects of the study area was collected, a number of open issues were identified, which will substantially contribute to the development and harmonization of not only the groundwater monitoring system of the transboundary territory of the Pripyat and Dnieper river basins in Ukraine and the Republic of Belarus, but also the groundwater monitoring system of the countries as a whole.</p>


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kateryna Nekit ◽  
Volodymyr Zubar

Abstract The focus of this research is to define the common and distinctive features of the approaches used by lawmakers in the post-Soviet states (Ukraine, Republic of Moldova, Republic of Belarus and Russian Federation) for the purpose of implementing fiduciary management and fiduciary ownership institutes into their respective national laws. It has been established that over the course of the fiduciary management and fiduciary ownership institutes development in the countries referenced above, similar solutions were initially applied. Thus, an effort was made to implement the institute of trust inherent in the common-law countries into the systems of civil law. However, the effort did not come to fruition and that resulted in the fiduciary management institute being implemented. However, notwithstanding the similarities in the general approaches to determining the content of the fiduciary management provisions in all post-Soviet countries, the situation in Ukraine came out to be different from that in other countries. Following the adoption of the Civil Code (CC) of Ukraine with the fiduciary management institute enshrined therein, the Code was amended by adding the provisions on fiduciary ownership, but typical for the Civil Law countries. Over a long period of time, the Ukrainian legislation was the only one that referred to the institute of fiduciary ownership (fiducia), but due to recent dramatic overhaul, the CC of the Republic of Moldova was amended by the provisions on fiducia as well. This research represents a review of modern statutory provisions of Ukraine, Republic of Moldova, Republic of Belarus and Russian Federation covering fiduciary management and fiduciary ownership, including identification of common and distinguishing features thereof. It is found that as of today, the laws of the Russian Federation and Republic of Belarus do not go beyond fiduciary management, whereas those existing in the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine refer to both fiduciary management and fiducia institutes. Outlined in the research are differences between fiduciary management, trust and fiducia. The research also offers an insight into the degree of influence the Draft Common Frame of Reference and provisions of the CC of Romania and CC of France, those related to trust and fiducia, had on the formation of fiduciary ownership concept in the legislation of the Republic of Moldova. Also included in the research is the analysis of the latest changes in the legislation of Ukraine, related to the introduction of fiduciary ownership as a means to secure the performance of obligations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 404-426
Author(s):  
Ana Jovic-Lazic

Following the enlargement of the Union, new neighbours in Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus became of great importance for the stability of Europe, which is why the EU formulated the European Neighbourhood Policy and the Eastern Partnership. Bearing in mind that Russia views this area as a sphere of its own influence, its policy has become of great importance as well as its reactions to the Union?s initiatives in this region. This geopolitical context of the Eastern Partnership became apparent with the outbreak of the Ukrainian crisis. In addition to the indicated limits of an often technocratic approach to the EU, the crisis has clearly shown there is a conflict of objectives of the European Union and the Russian Federation in the common neighbourhood and raised the issue of the security and geopolitical implications of this initiative. Also, the policies and interests of the European Union and the Russian Federation affect not only Ukraine but to a greater or lesser extent the development of opportunities in all other countries involved in the EU's Eastern Partnership - Georgia, Moldova, Belarus, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 84-96
Author(s):  
Alexandr Davidenko

The hybrid aggression of the Russian Federation against the independent Republic of Moldova in the Transnistrian region in 1992 (Pridnestrov‘ye), and the Ukrainian point of view to that mentioned aggression. The year 2014, the beginning of the aggressive hybrid war of the Russian Federation against independent Ukraine, the annexation of Crimea, and the occupation of parts of the territory of Ukrainian Donetsk and Luhansk regions (Donbass). A common the problem for the World is the lack of a real-world counter mechanism similar to hybrid aggression, stopping such conflicts and resolving them.


Author(s):  
Maksym Bulyk ◽  

Foreign policy of the Republic of Belarus during the 90s. ХХ - the 21st century was distinguished by a certain dualism related to the officially declared by President A. Lukashenko desire for deep integration with the Russian Federation and interest in close economic cooperation with European states. At the same time, despite permanent political scandals, since the 2000s, the Belarusian authorities have regarded the EU as counterbalancing to strengthening the expansionist aspirations of the Russian ruling regime, led by V. Putin. Thus, the current study is substantiated by the cross-border issue of the EU status of the Republic of Belarus, the current geopolitical process taking place in Eastern Europe, as well as close histories, cultural and economic links, which require detailed consideration. An analysis of Belarus's relations with the European Union's neighboring countries allows us to draw several conclusions. First of all, the political relations of these states are developing at several levels. At the same time, problematic issues, whose roots lie in the consequences of the historical and political processes of the past remain relevant. In addition, the desire of Belarus's neighbors to be guided not only by the EU's strategy for this country, but also by seeking their own ways of influencing on official Minsk in the interests of compatriots or economic benefits, should be emphasized. In conditions where the Belarusian leadership is interested in establishing relations with Western countries, such plans are in the interests of Europe as a whole. At the same time, economic cooperation comes to the fore, in which Belarus plays the role of a powerful partner, able to meet the needs of European countries in the production of oil and wood processing, processing industry, etc. However, in the context of destabilization of the international situation related with the actions of the Russian Federation in Central and Eastern Europe, Belarus' vulnerability becomes one of the main risks for future relations with neighboring countries.


2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 105-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
István Szűcs ◽  
Viktoria Vida

World meat production is anticipated to stagnate in 2016, rising by a mere 0.3% to 320.7 million tonnes. Increases in output are expected in the United States, Brazil, the EU, India and the Russian Federation, while reduced production is foreseen for China, Australia and South Africa. Global meat trade is forecast to recover in 2016, growing by 2.8% to 30.6 million tonnes, which would represent a return to trend, after a fall in 2015. World production of pig meat in 2016 is forecast to decrease marginally, by 0.7% to 116.4 million tonnes, thus registering a second year of virtual stagnation. As in 2015, lower output in China, which accounts for almost half the world total, is the main reason for the slowdown. An unfavourable feed-pork price ratio in the country and new environmental regulations have caused farmers to reduce breeding sows, stalling growth. China’s production is projected to be 54 million tonnes, down 2.5% from the previous year. Elsewhere in Asia, the Philippines and Vietnam could boost output. Also, production in Japan and the Republic of Korea may expand, as the industry recovers from outbreaks of PED, which reduced piglet numbers in the previous two years. Recovery from the effects of PED has been faster in the United States, where a second year of growth is anticipated, when production could increase by 1.9% to a record 11.3 million tonnes. Output in Mexico also continues to recover, following a PED outbreak in 2014, and may rise in 2016 by 2.0% to 1.3 million tonnes. Pork meat trade could experience a second year of growth, increasing by 4.4% to 7.5 million tonnes – a record level. Lower international prices have stimulated trade. Most of the principal importing countries are anticipated to increase their purchases, including Mexico, China, the Russian Federation, the United States, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Australia. In response to rising demand, exports are projected to grow, in particular those of the United States, Canada, the EU and Brazil (FAO, 2016). Summarizing, in this study we wish to examine how evolve the world pork meat production, trade and consumption, and to demonstrate the main consuming countries, highlighting the role of China, as it is the most populated country in the world with its 1.4 billion inhabitants. JEL Code: Q13, Q12


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document