Vol. 4 No. 2 (2021): Pakistan Journal of International Affairs
Articles

CRIMEAN ANNEXATION EUROPEAN UNION SANCTIONS AND RUSSIAN POLICY

Published 2021-06-30

Abstract

The Russian military attack against Ukraine was the most aggressive development in Europe after the Cold War. The EU and its western allies, applied sanctions against Russia, but could not compel Moscow to comply with the Minsk agreement, which not only highlights the weaknesses of the EU's CFSP owing to the internal friction between those states which have soft stance on Russia and those which have hardline approach against it in the EU process to impose the penalty packages, but also damage credibility of the EU which has discouraged countries seeking EU membership. Russia, which believes that the expansion of the EU and NATO to its vicinity undermines its core security interests, has adopted an aggressive diplomatic policy and engaged itself in international issues to break the containment policy of the west, that gave Russia a leverage to divide western countries on the issue of sanctions posing threat to the fundamental western interest.