This event is part of PRIO's European Security Week and is organized by the CENTREPEACE project.
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has forced Europe to rethink security, power and political order. This panel explores the competition between the EU and Russia over influence in areas beyond their borders. The discussion will examine how Russia and the EU project competing visions of order and political systems, and how this rivalry has sharpened during the war against Ukraine. In this perspective, the war is not only a military confrontation, but also part of a broader struggle for influence over political ideas, norms and models of order in the wider European space. The panel will address questions such as:
- How are Russia and the EU competing to shape political ideas, norms and visions of order?
- What does this competition for influence reveal about Russian intentions?
- How do states beyond the EU, NATO and Russia respond to this competition?
- What does this rivalry mean for the future of European security and stability?
The panelists will be:
Pavel Baev, Research Professor at PRIO, is an expert on Russia’s foreign and security policy, particularly its military strategy and conflict management in regions including the Caucasus, and how these dynamics shape Russia’s relations with Europe and broader regional security.
Laure Delcour, Associate Professor at Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris, has extensive expertise in EU neighbourhood policy, EU–Russia relations, and Eurasian regional dynamics, with research focusing on norm diffusion, competing policy frameworks, and the making of regional order.
Vladimir Gel’man, Professor of Russian and Eurasian Studies at the Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki, is an expert on Russian and post-Soviet politics and governance, focusing on authoritarianism, political institutions and regime dynamics, and how these shape policymaking and political developments across Russia and Eurasia.
Tracey German, Professor of Conflict and Security at King’s College London, is a distinguished scholar of Russian foreign and security policy, with particular expertise in Russian strategic culture, military thought, and conflict dynamics across the post-Soviet region.
Bo Petersson, Professor of Political Science and IMER at Malmö University and Director of the Russia, Ukraine and the Caucasus Regional Research (RUCARR) centre, is a leading scholar of Russian and post-Soviet politics whose research examines political myth, national identity, authoritarian legitimation, and the diffusion of authoritarian practices across Eurasia.
The event will be moderated by Zinaida Bechná, Assistant Professor at the Department of International Relations and European Studies at Masaryk University and leader of the CENTREPEACE project, who is an expert on the EU’s role as a security and conflict-management actor in the South Caucasus.
