REIMAGINING THE EU'S FOREIGN POLICY TOWARD THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION, 1991–2021: A STRATAGEM-BASED APPROACH

This article is devoted to a rethinking of the history of the European Union’s foreign policy from 1991 to 2021, with a particular focus on its interaction with Russia. The study places the evolution of the EU’s external strategies (and those of its predecessor, the EEC) within a broad cultural and historical perspective, viewing it as a dynamic interplay of meanings, symbols, and practices shaping mutual perceptions of “self” and “other.” As its theoretical and methodological foundation, the research employs the stratagem approach, which draws on the principles of ancient Chinese strategic thought as expressed in the works of Sun Tzu and the Thirty-Six Stratagems. Applying the stratagem approach makes it possible to interpret EU–Russia relations as a system of cultural codes and adaptation scenarios, in which diplomatic actions, economic cooperation, and political rivalry become elements of a broader semiotics of power and agency. Through this lens, foreign policy is viewed not as a set of rationally motivated decisions but as a collection of persistent patterns sustained by collective memory, institutional norms, and symbolic capital. Thus, the article offers a new perspective on the post–Cold War history of Europe—as a space of strategic interactions where politics takes the form of a cultural dialogue based on the logic of stratagems and the search for balance between competition and mutual adaptation.