Упрощенная HTML-версия
Author : A. Kuznetsov
Deputy Director, Head, Center for European Studies, Institute of World Economy and International
Relations (IMEMO), Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS); Corresponding Member, RAS; Professor,
Moscow State Institute (University) of International Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russ-
ian Federation, Doctor of Science (Economics)
THE UKRAINIAN STORM of 2013-2014 pushed the
world dangerously close to Cold War II. The coup and the
bloodshed which swept the country were caused by the re-
fusal of the Yanukovich regime to draw closer to the EU no
matter what rather than by the fairly acute social, economic
and political disagreements inside the country.1 The consec-
utive packages of anti-Russian sanctions imposed by the Eu-
ropean Union and coordinated, to a great extent, with the
U.S. and several other non-European allies look very logical
in the context of the stalled dialogue between the two key
European players.
THE IDEA of a united Europe goes back to the European
Middle Ages when it had meant unification of the Christian world and to New Times
when it took the form of secular projects.
The end of the Cold War did not bury the Greater Europe idea as a two-pole system.
Any counterposition of the EU and Russia adds an edge to their political and economic
influence over East European states. Ukraine has shown that in extreme form this rivalry
might develop into serious conflicts.
Many political forces in the West misinterpreted the end of the Cold War as a collapse of
one of the rivaling blocs which left behind a void to be filled rather than as a chance to
unify Europe. Certain forces in Western Europe and the United States looked at the si-
multaneous eastward expansion of NATO and the EU as progress toward Greater Europe.
Academics and common people alike find it much easier to grasp the fact that "Greater
Europe is a continuity of historical and cultural values of the European continent" which
is not disappearing as it moves westward or along any other vector. NATO's barbaric
bombing of Yugoslavia and regular fascist marches in Latvia are the best proof that the
most ardent supporters of human rights and freedoms among the EU members have not
Электронное приложение к журналу «
Международная жизнь
»
International Affairs: Summary№1, 2015
Reconsidering the Greater Europe Concept in the Context of the
Ukrainian Crisis