The November 2013 Eastern Partnership (EaP) summit in Vilnius played a key role in the transformation of the concept of the EU as a normative power. The summit was not only a focal point for developing the EU’s eastward policy, it has repositioned the EU as a geostrategic actor. Even Germany, which is usually cast as an “advocate” for Russia, joined other EU member states in support of the “European choice” of Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia. The urge to counter Russian aspirations in these countries has created a rare period of European foreign policy unity. At the same time, the ability of the EU to effectively adopt a geopolitical approach in Eastern Europe is limited because of a series of structural and institutional factors. In the end, the outcome of these contemporary East-West tussles will depend more on actions on the ground than on various balances of power between Brussels and Moscow.

The conference on «EU-Russia Relations» was held in Salzburg, Austria, on 15–16 July 2006. It was the last major activity to be made within the TEMPUS-TACIS project MP-JEP 23068-2002. Representatives of nine partner-universities as well as other European universities participated in the conference. During two days more than two dozens of papers were presented, which addressed various aspects of European integration history, the functioning of European Union institutions, EU-Russia relations, EU policy towards various countries and regions, and actual security problems in Europe. The collection of the conference papers presents a broad set of original researches and might be useful for students, university teachers, researchers of history and international relations and all those interested in European integration processes as well as in world politics issues.

The European Union and Russia are strategic partners – through their geographic situation, their common history, through social and economic obligations. Currently, the EU’s relations with Russia are under pressure for innovation. The EU’s ability to manoeuvre is hindered by the financial crisis, which has developed into a crisis of the Union’s political integration. For that reason, the EU’s relations with Russia depend on the Union’s ability to overcome the crisis and undertake reforms.