The EU’s restrictive measures take different forms. The sanctions are regularly prolonged and updated. The EU significantly expanded its own sanctions after the shooting down of flight MH17 in July 2014 over territory controlled by Russian-supported rebels in eastern Ukraine. Since March 2014 the EU, like the US, Canada, Australia and other Western countries, has progressively imposed restrictive measures against Russia in response to the illegal annexation of Crimea and the destabilisation of Ukraine. While Russia seemed to have weathered the initial waves of the COVID-19 pandemic relatively well, the significant health and economic crisis that it may experience as a result of an enduring sanitary emergency could have long-lasting social and political consequences. The economic system is concentrated in a few sectors it lacks transformative investments, while large firms close to the state dominate the market. Both the 2016 and 2021 parliamentary elections were held in a restrictive political and media environment, resulting in a significant victory for Putin’s United Russia party.Īlthough Russia’s economy recovered from the 2008 international recession and 2014 turbulence in the banking sector, benefiting from increasing revenues from hydrocarbon exports, the investment climate remained uncertain and its economic performance dependent on oil and gas prices. The Supreme Court banned the opposition activist Alexei Navalny as a candidate because of a contested past conviction. The EU is concerned about the rule of law – including corruption. Hundreds of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have been labelled as ‘foreign agents’ and ‘undesirable organisations’, and the authorities have tightened control over media and internet use. Russian legislation passed from 2012 onwards targets the opposition and civil society. Other worrying constitutional changes include the supremacy of Russian law over international agreements ratified by Russia and over the rulings of international courts. Putin-led constitutional amendments adopted in 2020 will allow him to stay in power beyond the end of his current mandate in 2024. The 2018 election gave Vladimir Putin his fourth term as president. However, Russia’s intervention in the Syrian civil war, and later on in Libya and in several sub-Saharan conflicts, as well as its disinformation campaigns and its efforts to influence elections in the EU and other Western countries, are causing serious tensions as well. Russia’s participation in the efforts of the E3+3 group of countries that concluded the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran raised hopes for greater cooperation on the global stage. The EU now follows a twin-track approach, combining gradual sanctions with attempts to find diplomatic solutions to the conflict in eastern Ukraine. The EU reviewed its bilateral relationship with Russia, discontinuing regular summits, and suspended the dialogue on visa issues and talks on a new bilateral agreement to replace the PCA. The illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia in March 2014, the evidence that Russia supports rebel fighters in eastern Ukraine and its attempts to disrupt access to the Sea of Azov triggered international crises. However, in recent years, the issue of the shared neighbourhood has become a major point of friction. The EU was a staunch supporter of Russia’s World Trade Organization (WTO) accession (completed in 2012). Until the outbreak of the crisis in Ukraine, the EU and Russia had been building a strategic partnership, covering, among other issues, trade, the economy, energy, climate change, research, education, culture, security, including counter-terrorism, nuclear non-proliferation and conflict resolution in the Middle East. Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) (bilateral relations).Articles 206-207 (trade) and Articles 216-219 (international agreements) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.Title V of the Treaty on European Union: ‘external action’.The EU and Russia remain closely interdependent and the EU applies a ‘selective engagement’ approach. The EU has regularly renewed sanctions against Russia since 2014. Tensions have also grown over Russian intervention in Syria, Libya and sub-Saharan Africa. EU-Russia relations have been strained since 2014 because of Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea, support for rebel groups in eastern Ukraine, policies in the neighbourhood, disinformation and interference campaigns and internal human rights violations.
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