The Memory of the Cold War as a Factor in European Union Policy towards Russia

The article focuses on theEuropean Union policy towards Russia in the 1990-s and early 21st century. The author presumes that one of the factors that determined the contradictory nature of this policy was the memory of the Cold War. People perceive past eventsthrough the prism of the present. Because of that, historic memory really infl uences the present day politics. Anegative image of Russia existed in the West in the years of the Cold War. Itseriously infl uenced on the attitude of WestEuropean elites to Russia after the end of the Cold War despite the mutually benefi cial cooperation. That is why leading West European politicians and a large part of army offi cers treated a new Russia with suspicion and often could not escapefrom the anti-Russian pressure of the United States. These sentiments became even stronger after the former Soviet republics and the former socialist States joinedthe European Union. As a result, the deterioration of the USA-Russian relations has led to stagnation in the relations between the European Union and Russia, and then to an acute crisis. The article’s conclusion is that the EU leaders failed to break free from the stereotypes of the Cold War.