EU and Russia: cooperation and sanctions

Russia and the EU recognize each other as key partners in the international arena
and cooperate on issues of mutual interest. The role of the Delegation of the
European Union in the Russian Federation is to discuss events, phenomena,
circumstances and trends in the political life of Russia, in relations between the EU
and Russia, as well as to support the political dialogue between the EU and Russia.
Since 2014, the illegal annexation of Crimea and the conflict in eastern Ukraine
have had a significant impact on the bilateral political dialogue. As a result, some
cooperation mechanisms are now temporarily frozen, and earlier sanctions were
adopted aimed at encouraging Russia to reconsider its actions in Ukraine. At the
same time, however, Russia remains a territorial partner of the EU and a
strategically important player contributing to the solution of local and global
problems.
Russia is the EU's largest neighbor, which has always been reflected in extensive
cooperation and trade in the 25 years prior to the current crisis. Russia is an
influential member of the UN Security Council and, taking into account historical
factors, geographic proximity and cultural ties, is one of the key players in the
European neighborhood system. Russia is also the main energy supplier to the EU
countries. The country is a large, dynamic market for European goods and services,
showing significant indicators of economic growth. Moreover, as members of the
UN, OSCE and the Council of Europe, the EU and Russia have pledged to uphold
and respect the fundamental values and principles of democracy, human rights, and
ensure the rule of law and market economy. These values are the foundation on
which relations between the EU and Russia are built.
Since 2012, Russia has moved from 3rd to 4th place among the key trading
partners of the EU, in 2020 it accounted for about 5% of foreign trade in goods.
However, the EU is still the largest trading partner for Russia: for example, in 2020
the trade turnover between the EU and Russia reached 174 billion euros, which is
about 40% of Russian trade. The main categories of EU exports to Russia are
equipment, transport equipment, medicines, chemical products and other industrial
goods. The main categories of imports to the EU from Russia are commodities, in
particular oil (crude oil and refined oil) and gas, as well as metals (primarily iron /
steel, aluminum, nickel). Wines and spirits continued to account for € 700 million
in 2019.
By the way, the European Union is applying a number of restrictive measures
against Russia in response to the crisis in Ukraine, including measures against
certain industries and other measures of an economic nature. Beginning in 2014,
Russia imposed retaliatory sanctions against the Council of Europe, banning the
import of a number of food and agricultural products; these sanctions were updated
several times and remain in effect to this day.
Recently, on February 22 in Brussels, the Foreign Ministers of the 27 EU countries
made a political decision to impose new sanctions against persons who, in the
opinion of the community, are responsible for the conviction of Alexei Navalny.
This was stated on Monday by the head of EU diplomacy Josep Borrell at a press
conference. "In response to the events on Navalny, we reached a political
agreement to impose sanctions against those responsible for his arrest and
conviction," he said. "I hope this will happen soon, I hope the process will take a
maximum of a week."
According to Borrell, all EU countries agreed with the assessment that "Russia is
moving towards becoming an authoritarian state and is moving away from
Europe." "The ministers unanimously interpreted Russia's actions (during Borrell's
visit to Moscow) as a clear sign that Russia is not interested in cooperation with
the EU, but, on the contrary, is looking for confrontation and wants to break off
relations with the European Union," the diplomat said.
As a result of Borrell's trip to Moscow, he said that the EU and the Russian
Federation had held an "open and honest" dialogue on all issues of bilateral
relations - from the fight against the novel coronavirus pandemic, global climate
change and the restoration of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Iran's
nuclear program to disagreements over Ukraine. Brussels' support for Alexei
Navalny and the expulsion from Russia of Western diplomats who participated in
uncoordinated protests. At the same time, the next day, he issued a separate
statement in which he called the organization of the press conference in Moscow
"aggressive", and also warned that the EU intends to impose new sanctions against
Russia.