At the upcoming summit of the "Big Seven", which will open on June 7 in the German town of Ellmau, the United States intends to convince its European colleagues of the need to maintain sanctions against Russia. According to White House spokesman Ben Rhodes, "to keep sanctions means sending a signal to Russia that it will have big problems in the economy." However, maintaining the sanctions can cause problems in the economy of the EU itself. In this regard, the European debate continues over how to act properly in this situation. Along with those who strongly oppose any cooperation with Russia, in Europe there are many politicians and experts who hold the opposite view.
French financier Arnaud Leclercq wonders whether there is something new in the current geopolitical situation around Russia, meaning a verbal conflict with the United States and Europe: "The long-term relations between Russia and the West, mainly with Western Europe, have always been based on conflict." According to the author of the book 'Russian Influence in Eurasia', there has always been a discussion about whether Russia is European, Eurasian, or something else. Philosophers and writers have written a lot about it, but they did not provide any definitive answers.
The researcher notes that in recent years Russia has inclined towards the East. According to him, between the European states and Russia there have always been a lot of conflicts – with Germany, the British Empire, with Sweden, there were wars and conflicts. "On the contrary, Russia's relations with its eastern neighbors were generally positive," Arnaud Leclercq says. "But if not entirely positive, they were sufficiently light, except for the Mongol-Tatar invasion. But mostly it was more or less peaceful, stable and with understanding of freedom of religion for Russian Christians. Even Ivan Kalita actually had acted as a tax collector for other princes and handed tribute to the invaders before they were repulsed, and again won back the land from the Mongols."
The French expert said that Russia and the East have always been able to find a compromise and understanding: "The expansion to the East, when compared with what happened in the US, was more or less peaceful, despite some battles."
Arnaud Leclercq says that, when he started his research 10 years ago, he did not raise the question: should Russia mainly strengthen ties with the West or with the East? According to him, few people thought about it. But today Russia's movement toward the East is obvious. According to the French financier, this trend of distancing Russia from Europe and the rapprochement with the East in the future will only increase.
