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The regional conflict from Ukraine that emerged a year ago, in February 2022, has quickly evolved into a widespread economic confrontation between the West and the Russian Federation, due to the enormous amount of sanctions imposed to the latest as a retaliation for the unprovoked military invasion into the territory of an independent and sovereign state. While the Western sanctions have targeted various economic field (from finance, to energy and trade), for the purpose of this paper we have chosen to analyse the impact of the trade sanctions in the energy field while highlighting how the European Union (EU)-Russia energy trade has shrunken under the sanctions blow. This paper provides an in depth quantitative analysis of the bilateral trade between the two parties, focusing on the evolution of energy trade after the imposition of sanctions. The methodological approach uses the latest Eurostat statistics but also a qualitative analysis of the studied literature in the field to underline the huge impact of sanctions on the bilateral cooperation between EU and Russian Federation. Our main finding shows that the sanctions have seriously affected the economic cooperation between EU and Russian Federation, causing a major decrease of the bilateral trade, but the energy trade still remains important, as the enforced bans have not completely stopped the unwanted energy link between the two parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The military invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation turned into Europe's most prominent military conflict since World War II, severely modifying the economic and financial relations between the European Union (EU) and the Russian Federation. Since the beginning of the Russian aggression, the EU has imposed a large number of sanctions against the Russian Federation, which aimed at limiting Russian resources to finance the war and restricting its access to European financial markets. In this context, the paper aims to investigate the impact of the EU sanctions on the Russian financial system by assessing the banking system's resilience to imposed restrictions. The findings highlight that, in the initial phase, the Russian financial system has been significantly disrupted by the EU sanctions, facing a collapse of the rouble, the most significant drop in the history of Moscow's stock market, a banking liquidity crisis, but also a contraction in lending and in the interest rate spread. In a later phase, due to largescale countermeasures taken by the Russian authorities and the Bank of Russia, it has been stabilized, reflecting its high level of resilience to risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for the period 2023-2027 proposes a series of development objectives that allow Member States to design their CAP Strategic Plans for enhancing the resilience of rural areas through targeted actions to increase agricultural production and food security, while supporting climate and environmental objectives. This paper aims to identify the concrete ways in which funding granted through the CAP can contribute to increasing the resilience of rural areas under the global current challenges brought by the COVID-19 crisis and by the war that Russia started in Ukraine, by analysing some key factors: CAP's role for boosting the competitiveness of European agriculture, supporting the growth and employment in rural areas, supporting farm income, financing the environmental objectives and, last but not least, finding solutions to increase food security. For this purpose, the latest statistics on CAP allocations for the two pillars (Pillar I - agriculture and markets and Pillar II - rural development) will be presented, as well as the evolutions of trade in agricultural products and agricultural production at EU-27 level in order to highlight how can CAP respond to the challenges brought by the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the climate change, while financing the sustainable development of EU's rural areas and supporting a competitive agriculture in the Member States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

2020 was the 21st century's most disruptive and unsettling year to the date, generating an exceptionally strained economic and geopolitical context worldwide, and in Russia in particular. The rapid spreading of the coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing sanitary and economic crises that followed several years of economic slowdown, the oil-price war with Saudi Arabia, the recently created "entente" with China against Western allies and the continuing alienation from the West represented just several of the challenges that Russia faced. Furthermore, the Covid-19 crisis proved to be an unprecedented test for Russian decision-makers, demonstrating that despite the self-isolation policy applied during the recent years, the national economy is still extremely sensitive to external shocks and is not able to withstand them alone. In this new general context, our paper aims to assess the resilience of the Russian economy in the face of the Covid-19 crisis by analysing its main vulnerabilities, as well as the current validity of the national strategies and alliances, and the new potential opportunity revealed by the crisis -that of reopening the dialogue with Western economies with the view of improving bilateral relations and future cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, it is a well-known fact that Russia represents a major player on the global energy market with massive fossil fuel reserves and also with a high dependence on energy exports. While in the recent years Russia was the world's largest exporter of energy resources, ranking first in the global hierarchy of gas exports, second in oil exports and third in coal exports, the economic growth remained mainly driven by its "energy power". That proved to be a major vulnerability of Russian economy, especially since its energy sector is still characterized by high corporate concentration and a lack of market mechanisms amid very low domestic prices, a high energy intensity and low efficiency with no real interest from the major stakeholders for the decarbonisations process. As the main development directions outlined in the Russian Energy Strategy 2035 have stated, large state-owned companies depend on government subsidies, and this substantial financial support is all the more vital, especially in the context of the COVID-19 crisis. The "2020 energy crisis" -- how it is known in the scientific literature -- was mainly triggered by the oil price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia (both being major actors within OPEC+) and proved to have an important negative effect for the Russian energy sector development. Taking into consideration that the pandemic induced the decline of global demand for oil and natural gas, this evolution heavily affected the export volume and revenues of Russian companies. Given the expected prolongation of its reciprocal sanction regime with the West, Russia depends on China's energy demand and financial support. Given all these trends, our paper aims to highlight that the COVID-19 crisis is fundamentally relevant to the Russian energy sector, a sector which is an important sector for the Russian Federation. Our methodology is based both on a quantitative analysis and on highlighting the economic effects, constraints, and 'weak points' of the Russian energy sector in the modern realities of the „2020 crisis” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the end of World War II, Russia has established itself as great powers whose foreign policy decisions has had and have a decisive impact on the security of Europe. Although energy trade remains undoubtedly the most important aspect of relations between Russia and the EU, it should be noted that, at present, the reciprocal sanctions imposed after the Ukrainian crisis redefine the future course of bilateral relations, while also having possible implications and on European security. Taking into account the new realities that define the geopolitical game between the EU and Russia, our article aims to expose and analyze some aspects essential to the new coordinates of European security, while highlighting the challenges and opportunities generated by the current international context. What for other countries is convergence and divergence, in the field of security Russia manifests flux and ebb, between malleability, inflexibility and even aggression. In our argument we will use not only European documents of strategic importance, but we will also expose the latest transformations generated by the new approach of Russian foreign policy regarding sanctions imposed by the international community. Although EU-Russia bilateral relations remain a pillar of European security, the implications of the overall global context, such as the issues surrounding the consequences of the G-20 Summit decisions on the New World Order, should not be neglected. The general interest in the topics of the global agenda of international relations is high, especially as the relations between the EU and Russia do not unfold in a vacuum, but they depend decisively on the dynamics and perspectives of world politics and economy, and this reality generates so many opportunities, as well as challenges for both parties, with the potential to reduce or increase the external risks for each major economic player globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the end of the Cold War, Russia has retained world's special attention as a key vector for both global and European security. While the energetic link is undeniable the backbone for EU-Russia relations, the sanctions game prove to be a stone corner for redefining not only the course of bilateral relations but the future of European security. In view of the new realities shaped by this rough geo-political game, our article aims to bring forward some essential issues for the new coordinates of European security, while highlighting both the challenges and opportunities brought by the current international framework. Our assumptions are based not only on core strategic European documents, but also on the latest transformations induced by Russian foreign strategy and by the international sanctions imposition. Also, it is our opinion that while the bilateral dimension of EU - Russia relations is important in itself, special attention ought to be paid to more general matters concerning the current global situation and issues of the emerging new world order that took place during the last G-20 summit. The heightened interest in those topics is understandable, because EU - Russia relations are not developing in a vacuum, and the dynamics and prospects of these relations are largely contingent on the global political and economic situation as a whole. Perhaps the most relevant conclusion for the future of Russia and EU relations has been highlighted by French President Emanuel Macron who concluded that Russia is considered a deeply European country, while he personally believe in a Europe, which extends from Lisbon to Vladivostok. It is on this positive note that we can affirm that a new architecture of security and trust between Russia and the European Union is needed, while undoubtedly both France and Germany, as joint leaders of Europe, will have to play an important role in this process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, the debate about Sino-Russian relations is on the rise and draws the attention of many international analysts and policy makers. With bilateral cooperation increasing in recent years, an evident rapprochement is now occurring. This article aims at emphasising the common economic and geopolitical interests behind this new-era relationship, taking into account the recent economic and security pressures coming from the U.S. that created a common ground for the two countries, as well as the historical key-role played by trade and investment and by the energy link. Furthermore, the paper will argue the implications that this strategic economic and political partnership has on the transition in the balance of power in a unipolar world (currently led by U.S.) towards a more complex alignment. Having large natural resources, huge territory and a numerous population, both countries remain geopolitical forces in today's world. After the sanctions, Russia is currently building a strong economic partnership with China (through the Far East Initiative). It is our opinion that this new global power dynamics that sees China and Russia increasingly supporting each other on the world stage could moderate U.S. global influence leading to a new international equilibrium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is one of the oldest and most controversial common policies and it is financed directly from the European Union budget. Some critics of CAP argue that especially in the context of the challenges brought by the international crisis, this policy represents a "burden" for the European budget. Our research aims to responds those critics by showing that CAP may represent an important tool for addressing the external shocks impact on agricultural sector of EU. In this view, we will highlight the role of CAP in sustaining the European farmer during the crisis generated by the Russian import ban, adopted as a response to the sanctions imposed by EU to the Russian Federation in the context of Ukrainian crisis. Using a quantitative and qualitative analysis we will assess how the CAP has supported the European agricultural sector and also the future measures that could be adopted to create a more flexible response in the case of other external shocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]