Russia's President Vladimir Putin is starting to take the EU seriously, as an entity in its own right. But many Russians feel ambiguous about the EU's development, particularly its enlargement into Eastern Europe.
Almost ten years after the collapse of Soviet Communism, most Russians accept that power should change hands through the ballot box, and that they need some sort of market economy. And yet their view of the world is very different from that of most Europeans or Americans.
Russia is a European country, though a very peculiar one. Russia is also in deep crisis. But the situation in Russia is never as bad or as good as it seems.
Bulletin article by Rodric Braithwaite, 01 December 1998
Russia is a European country, albeit one with many non-European interests. Russia and the other countries of Europe share a common concern for the stability and prosperity of the continent.