Introduction

In 1999 Javier Solana, the European Union (EU)'s newly appointed High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), described developing a partnership with Russia as ‘the most important, the most urgent and the most challenging task that the European Union faces at the beginning of the 21st Century’. It has also proved the greatest test of its credibility as a foreign policy actor, raising critical questions about its capacity for coherent and effective action. Although it has aspirations to play a global role, it is in Europe that the EU's most immediate interests and ambitions lie and Russia is recognized as the other key player on the continent. It is the EU's largest neighbour both in terms of population and territory and has immense reserves of natural resources, including oil and gas. Despite its loss of ‘superpower’ status, it is still a major military power in both conventional and nuclear terms and remains a key actor at the global level with a permanent seat on the UN Security Council (UNSC) and membership of the Group of Eight (G8). It has strong interests and significant influence in regions central to the EU's security, such as eastern Europe, the Middle East, the Balkans and Central Asia. The long common border means that cooperation with Russia is extremely important in tackling soft security threats such as illegal immigration, international crime, terrorism, nuclear accidents and environmental pollution.