The European Union and Russia share a common neighborhood that both try to shape
and influence. While the EU model of soft power has been per se a magnetic pull of attraction, in a rapidly changing global power network, Russian alternative model of “sovereign democracy”, with its competing values of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries, its territorial integrity and state capitalism are increasingly seen a model for modernization in the regional context, with an increasing alliance of China at the international tables.
Against this background, this paper analyzes the extent to which the Russian and EU powers are competing in Ukraine. The author has chosen Ukraine for its case study because Ukraine can be regarded as a crucial case among the countries of the shared Neighborhood. Besides being a key transit country for the Russian gas reaching the lucrative EU markets the country aims to join the EU and the NATO. On the other hand for a series of historical, cultural, demographic and geopolitical reasons Ukraine’s political orientation towards Russia is crucial to its own agenda in the post-Soviet space.
