... Russia, first trade agreement, first French-Russian dictionary…”
Almost five hundred years later, France-Russia relations over the Arctic region are still active. The present article introduces the reader with the main fields of French-Russian cooperation in the Arctic, and presents what are France’s interests in the Arctic.
Source: P.Kotlyar/Total
Cooperation in resources exploitation
When one mentions France-Russia relations in the Arctic, one automatically thinks of cooperation ...
... BRICS will not suffice for retaining its international standing. Meanwhile, Europe is stepping up the work on gaining energy independence from Russia; if progress is made, Russia could easily be left with no-one to buy its natural gas. Most importantly, cooperation with Europe can be the only meaningful long-term goal for Russia — now this will be degraded to an illusion for a long time again.
The wider world will also suffer, because Russia has shown that international law is relative to the interests of the mighty. If a large and powerful state follows roguish ...
It might seem that, Ukraine having decided not to sign a deal with the EU last week in Vilnius, the Union lost the integration contest to Russia. But developments seem to be on the way. In light of the happenings of the past few days, Europe may come out of this better than it would have, had things gone another way.
It has long been known that the talks between the EU and Ukraine should ...
... and find jobs in Brussels and Helsinki and Dublin. Therefore, I would argue that the troubles of Estonians are not greatly connected to EU membership.
Does this distress nonetheless imply a turn towards Russia? Is it a reason for enhanced economic cooperation between Russia and Estonia along with its Baltic neighbours?
Undeniably, there are nostalgics. The mainstream, however, is happy with the status quo. They say ‘nothing good will ever come from the East, even bad weather comes from there’. On a very ...
... cause.
It is reiterated to the point of being a trite that the EU is a ’community of values’. Its officials might therefore easily get the notion that it is fundamentally on the level of values that they are on different terms with their Russian counterparts. But, given the importance of cooperation, self-respect should not turn into disdain. A little pragmatism could help.
... potential for partnership?', organised by RIAC and held in Moscow on March 21st
As if a code of conduct had been circulated amongst participants, throughout the three discussion panels of the conference there was a consensus that an enhanced cooperation between Russia and the EU is necessary. Mr Medvedev and Mr Barroso defined the tone of the discussion in their opening speeches: the former talked about interdependence and the latter called for a strategic partnership. The foreign policy professionals that took ...