INTRODUCTIONmore necessary because the Central and East European region has been playingan indisputably important role in Russia’s interests.Today, much has been said and written about Russia’s supposed interest in thebreakup of the <strong>Visegrad</strong> Group. This was how Vladimir Putin’s visit to Hungary inMarch 2015 was covered in the media. The rumours that Russia is happy to seediscord within the Group is one of those clichés that Europe has never been ableto get rid of in its perception of modern Russia.The aim of this report is to trace the evolution of Russia’s policy towards the<strong>Visegrad</strong> Group states, to analyse the development of relations in the Russia–<strong>Visegrad</strong> Group–Ukraine triangle from the emergence of these three subjects tothe present time, and to define possible ways of cooperation between them to putan end to the crisis.www.russiancouncil.ru7
RUSSIA AND THE VISEGRAD GROUP:THE UKRAINIAN CHALLENGE1. Russia, the <strong>Visegrad</strong> Group and the EasternPartnership ProgrammeTwenty-three years after the <strong>Visegrad</strong> Group came to life, Russia’s scepticalattitude towards the V4 as a factor of European policy in the region has hardlychanged. Signs of an improved image of the new European Four emerged at theend of the first decade of the 21 st century. The reason lay in a greater opennesstowards Russia – the <strong>Visegrad</strong> Group Days were held in Moscow and the idea ofregional unity was promoted among Russian experts and politicians. However, noreal changes occurred to bring Russia and the <strong>Visegrad</strong> Group closer together onthe more pressing issues.Signs of an improved image of the new European Four emerged at the end of the first decade of the21 st century.The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not include the <strong>Visegrad</strong> Group in thelist of international partner structures that pursue active cooperation with Russia.It is partly explained by the fact that the <strong>Visegrad</strong> Group was not organizedstructurally. Indeed, the presidency in the <strong>Visegrad</strong> Group goes from countryto country once a year, and the only institution with a permanent office is theInternational <strong>Visegrad</strong> Fund, which distributes money to finance the interactionprogrammes within the region and in the Eastern Partnership countries. Thus, the<strong>Visegrad</strong> Group does not even have an official address.The main reason for Russia’s scepticism is its wariness of organizations thatwere created with the active support of its geopolitical rivals (in this case theUnited States). At the same time, Moscow, which lacks a strategy in the Centraland Eastern European region, naturally, is unable to work out a policy on the<strong>Visegrad</strong> Group. Nevertheless, up to the middle of 2013 the bilateral links withPoland and Hungary were improving, and the relations with the Czech Republicand Slovakia were traditionally good, which compensated Russia for the lack oflinks with the <strong>Visegrad</strong> Group. Since the <strong>Visegrad</strong> Group emerged, Russia hastreated its initiatives with detachment, yet analysing them in terms of their impacton its security and prospects for economic development.Today, it is clear that the <strong>Visegrad</strong> Group is incomplete in geopolitical, economic,cultural and political-ideological areas. But, it is obvious that the Group seeks toovercome this condition, proved alongside with other measures in the securityfield, by the formation of the 3000-strong Polish-led international battalion.It was begun in 2012, and is to be completed by 2016. The energy projectsmentioned in the Eastern Partnership Programme also demonstrate the Group’sinterest in expanding its geostrategic influence and forming a stable segmentof the European market in the region. At present, the leverage of the <strong>Visegrad</strong>Group, largely due to Poland’s efforts, stretches to Ukraine and the Republic ofMoldova and adds to interaction with the Baltic and Balkan countries. In future,the enlargement of the <strong>Visegrad</strong> Group to Carpathian Europe or the Baltic–Danube8 Report 22 / 2015
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