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Abstract
The essay examines the qualitative changes in EU–Russian relations which resulted from the 2014 sanctions. Thematic, structural and institutional aspects of the issue are analysed through the ‘level of analysis’ approach. Thematically, policy-specific and implementation measures reinforced an EU–Russian ‘divorce’ both in energy and trade. Structurally, the scope of EU–Russian dialogue narrowed in favour of relations between Moscow and member states, and in multilateral fora; this dialogue also became dependent on Russia–US relations. Institutionally sanctions have led to the growing poverty of transgovernmental and transnational relations. As a result, achievements of previous years have been derailed, and reversal of the negative trends will prove difficult.
Notes
1 ‘Siluanov otsenil poteri Rossii ot sanktsii i desheveyushchei nefti v $140 mlrd’, RBC, 24 November 2014, available at: http://top.rbc.ru/finances/24/11/2014/5472ededcbb20f50f1970522, accessed 9 March 2015; ‘Kudrin: Sanktsii negativno vliyaut na ekonomiku Rossii’, RIA Novosti, 21 November 2015, available at: http://ria.ru/economy/20151121/1325569509.html, accessed 21 December 2015.
2 ‘Multi-billion Losses Expected from Russia Sanctions’, EUobserver, 28 July 2014, available at: https://euobserver.com/economic/125118, accessed 9 March 2015.
3 For how Russian foreign policy concepts interprets this equality, see President of Russia (Citation2013).
4 The final, thirteenth round, has never been completed.
5 Interview with a senior diplomat, Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the EU, Brussels, 5 February 2015.
6 ‘Peregovory po bezvizovomu rezhimu s ES i ran’she stoyali na meste’, RIA Novosti, 1 August 2014, available at: http://ria.ru/politics/20140801/1018449690.html, accessed 25 July 2015. Interview with a senior diplomat, Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the EU, Brussels, 5 February 2015.
7 See, for example, ‘Russia Calls for EU Talks with Newly Born Eurasian Union’, EUobserver, 2 January 2015, available at: https://euobserver.com/economic/127081, accessed 9 March 2015; ‘Soglasno soobshcheniyam nemetskikh SMI, kantsler Angela Merkel i vitse-kantsler Zigmar Gabriel’ predlozhili nachat’ peregovory o svobodnom torgovom prostranstve ot Lissabona do Vladivostoka, ideyu sozdaniya kotorogo neskol’ko let nazad vydvinul rossiiskii president Vladimir Putin’, Rossiiskaya gazeta, 23 January 2015, available at: http://www.rg.ru/2015/01/23/germany-site.html, accessed 9 March 2015; ‘SZ: Germaniya predlagaet Evraziiskomy soyuzu druzhbu v obmen na mir na Ukraine’, Russia Today, 23 January 2015, available at: http://russian.rt.com/inotv/2015-01-23/SZ-Germaniya-predlagaet-Evrazijskomu-soyuzu, accessed 9 March 2015; ‘Ukraine Crisis: Angela Merkel “Offers Russia Free Trade Deal for Peace”’, Daily Telegraph, 23 January 2015, available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/11365674/Ukraine-crisis-Angela-Merkel-offers-Russia-free-trade-deal-for-peace.html, accessed 9 March 2015.
8 ‘Russia is a Strategic Problem for the EU—Tusk’, Reuters, 18 December 2014, available at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/18/ukraine-crisis-russia-eu-idUSL6N0U253U20141218, accessed 9 March 2015.
9 ‘Power of Siberia’, Gazprom, no date, available at: http://www.gazprom.com/about/production/projects/pipelines/ykv/, accessed 24 December 2014.
10 ‘Altai Project’, Gazprom, no date, available at: http://www.gazprom.com/about/production/projects/pipelines/altai/, accessed 24 December 2014.
11 Interview with a senior diplomat, Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the EU, Brussels, 5 February 2015.
12 ‘Gazotransportnaya sistema’, Neftegaz, Transportirovka i khranenie, no date, available at: http://neftegaz.ru/tech_library/view/4344/, accessed 14 December 2015.
13 See, for example, ‘Germaniya poteryala iz-za sanktsii 60 tysyach rabochikh mest’, Rossiiskaya gazeta, 5 February 2015, available at: http://www.rg.ru/2015/02/05/sankcii-site.html, accessed 9 March 2015; ‘DW: Sanktsii protiv Rossii negativno vliyaut na evropeiskii biznes’, Regnum, 22 February 2015, available at: http://www.regnum.ru/news/polit/1898144.html, accessed 13 March 2015.
14 Interview with a deputy head of unit, DG Trade, European Commission, Brussels, 6 October 2014.
15 ‘Plan deyatel’nosti Minselkhoza Rossii na 2013–2018 gody’, Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, available at: http://www.mcx.ru/documents/document/show/24205.htm, accessed 14 March 2015.
16 ‘Svedeniya o razmeshchenii sredstv fonda na depositakh vo Vneshekonombanke po sostoyaniyu na 1 marta 2015 goda’, Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, available at: http://www.minfin.ru/ru/perfomance/nationalwealthfund/statistics/, accessed 14 March 2015.
17 ‘Russian New Industrialisation’, Regnum, 26 February 2015, available at: http://www.regnum.ru/news/economy/1899555.html, accessed 9 March 2015.
18 ‘Putin vydvinul programmu novoi industrializatsii’, Vestifinance, 21 December 2011, available at: http://www.vestifinance.ru/articles/5365, accessed 25 July 2015.
19 ‘NATO Releases Satellite Imagery Showing Russian Combat Troops Inside Ukraine’, NATO, 28 August 2014, available at: http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_112193.htm, accessed 21 February 2016.
20 ‘Kreml oproverg obvineniya Obamy o prisutstvii rossiiskikh voisk na territorii Ukrainy’, Newsru.com, 3 September 2014, available at: http://www.newsru.com/russia/03sep2014/peskov.html, accessed 21 February 2016; ‘Postpred Rossii pri OBSE oproverg vvod voisk na Ukrainu’, RBK, 28 August 2014, available at: http://www.rbc.ru/politics/28/08/2014/945692.shtml, accessed 21 February 2016.
21 ‘Ukraine Conflict: Russia Accused of Shooting Down Jet’, BBC News, 17 July 2014, available at: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28345039, accessed 21 February 2016.
22 ‘Lavrov nazval otvetstvennykh za nagnetanie konfrontatsii mezhdu Rossiei i ES’, RIA Novosti, 10 March 2015, available at: http://ria.ru/tv_politics/20150310/1051805650.html, accessed 14 March 2015.
23 Phyto-sanitary authorities (Rosselhoznadzor in the case of Russia) work to ensure that various bacteria and infections do not arrive with imported agricultural products.
24 ‘Resheniya o sanktsiyakh—kollektivnaya otvetstvennost’ ES’, RIA Novosti, 2 June 2015, available at: http://ria.ru/world/20150602/1067777514.html, accessed 2 June 2015.
25 ‘Dispute DS476 European Union and its Member States—Certain Measures Relating to the Energy Sector’, WTO, available at: www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/cases_e/ds476_e.htm, accessed 21 February 2016; ‘Dispute DS479 Russia—Anti-Dumping Duties on Light Commercial Vehicles from Germany and Italy’, WTO, available at: http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/cases_e/ds479_e.htm, accessed 21 February 2016; ‘Dispute DS485 Russia—Tariff Treatment of Certain Agricultural and Manufacturing Products’, WTO, available at: http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/cases_e/ds485_e.htm, accessed 21 February 2016.
26 Energy Charter Treaty, 17 December 1994, available at: http://www.energycharter.org/process/energy-charter-treaty-1994/energy-charter-treaty/, accessed 21 February 2016. Interview with an official responsible for the relations with the EU, Russian Ministry of Energy, Moscow, 10 June 2014 and 16 June 2015.
27 Interview with a senior diplomat, Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the EU, Brussels, 5 February 2015.
28 Interview with a senior diplomat, Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the EU, Brussels, 5 February 2015.
29 See also, Trenin (Citation2014).
30 ‘Postpred RF pri ES: Evrosoyuz sokhranitsya, no ne bez shramov i izderzhek’, RIA Novosti, 11 February 2016, available at: http://ria.ru/interview/20160211/1372526891.html, accessed 21 February 2016.
31 ‘Postpred RF pri ES: Evrosoyuz sokhranitsya, no ne bez shramov i izderzhek’, RIA Novosti, 11 February 2016, available at: http://ria.ru/interview/20160211/1372526891.html, accessed 21 February 2016; ‘Putin nazval sanktsii SSHA protiv kompanii ES “otnosheniyami s vassalami”’, Rossiiskaya gazeta, 22 October 2015, available at: http://www.rg.ru/2015/10/22/vassali-anons.html, accessed 21 February 2016; ‘Zamglavy MID RF: Vashington davit na ES dlya sokhraneniya sanktsii protiv Rossii’, Russia Today, 12 February 2016, available at: https://russian.rt.com/article/148194, accessed 21 February 2016.
32 Interview with a former official of the EU Delegation to Russia, DG RELEX, European Commission, Brussels, 19 November 2010.
33 Interview with a head of unit, European External Action Service, Brussels, 5 October 2014.
34 Interview with an official responsible for relations with the EU, Russian Ministry of Energy, Moscow, 10 June 2014; interview with an official responsible for cooperation with the WTO, Ministry of Economic Development, Moscow, 15 July 2014; interview with an official responsible for relations with the EU, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Brussels, 3 February 2015.
35 Interview with an official responsible for relations with the EU, Russian Ministry of Energy, Moscow, 10 June 2014.
36 Interview with an official responsible for industrial dialogue with Russia, DG Industry and Entrepreneurship, European Commission, Brussels, 9 October 2014; interview with an official responsible for international relations, DG Energy, European Commission, Brussels, 6 February 2015.
37 ‘Fancy Footwork. How Businesses Linked to Blacklisted Oligarchs Avoid Western Sanctions’, The Economist, 14 February 2015, available at: http://www.economist.com/news/business/21643122-how-businesses-linked-blacklisted-oligarchs-avoid-western-sanctions-fancy-footwork, accessed 25 July 15.
38 UK authorities blocked the purchase of gas fields in the North Sea by Russian LetterOne due to potential future tightening of sanctions against Russia, which could affect LetterOne. See, Adams (Citation2015); ‘RWE Wraps Up EUR 5.1 bn Sale of Gas Unit to Russian-controlled Fund’, EUobserver, 2 March 2015, available at: http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/germany-russia-rwe.100s, accessed 25 July 2015.
39 ‘Russia’s Rosneft Relies on Nine Pleas in Support of its Claim in ECJ’, RAPSI, 12 December 2014, available at: http://rapsinews.com/judicial_news/20141212/272765797.html, accessed 25 July 2015.
