International relations in Eastern Europe: problems, approaches and research limits

Abstract

The editors of the introduction substantiate the themes, problems,and methodology of the study of the development of international relations in Eastern Europe. The authors justify the chronological framework of the research, the topics and problems, the structure of the materials, the general characteristics of the sources used by the authors, and gives a description of the research methods. The authors' team consists of representatives of various disciplines – historians, internationalists, political scientists, diplomats, working both in research institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences and in scientific and pedagogical institutions. The focus is on the period 2014–2021 – the turn in relations between Russia and the West (NATO and the EU), including the countries of Central-Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine up to the sharp aggravation of relations at the regional and global levels, which manifested and, in part, the cause of which was the Russian military operation on the territory of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The studies included in this issue are written on the basis of different types of sources – official documents (international treaties, declarations, diplomatic and political documents of Russia, EU and NATO, Central Eastern and South-Eastern European countries, media materials, journalism, scientific and analytical works. On the basis of these materials the general picture of the international relations in the East (Central-Eastern and South-Eastern Europe) during the specified period is created, the essence of various forms of interaction of the countries of the region between themselves, with the Russian Federation and the European and Euro-Atlantic structures, and also the essence of global and Eurasian relations is revealed.