EU and Russian Coercion: Manipulating the Cost-Benefit Calculations of the Moldovan and Armenian Governments
Journal: The European Union in international affairs
Year: 2024

Abstract The third chapter assesses the exploitation of existing economic and security dependencies (i.e., coercion) by the EU and Russia. It presents a systematic comparison of their uses of coercive actions towards Moldova and Armenia and an analysis of the perceptions of local actors. Both the EU and Russia coerced Moldova and Armenia, but the difference was in the institutionalisation of the mechanism. The chapter details the coercion mechanism, illustrating how threats influence the politic