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On May 12-13, EESC together with the International Election Study Centre launched a new joint initiative and organized an expert round table discussion Russia Reality Check. Aim of the first discussion was to analyse history of the EU-Russia relations, hear latest updates from inside Russia, discuss economic consequences of the recent events and outline main ways of further engagement with Russia.
The event started by informal forum of intellectuals, where representatives of international academia, writers, social activists, philosophers and artists shared their views on the current situation in Russia. Among topics discussed were the effects of recent events in region on Russian society and the estimations of Western reactions towards the situation in Ukraine.
On the second day, the participants were offered three panel discussions on such issues as partnership between the U.S, the European Union and Russia, strengths and weaknesses of Putin’s Russia, and possible ways to bridge the EU and Russia’s societies.
The Reality Check is a policy review process aiming to gather insights from top domestic and international analysts, practitioners, diplomats and policy-makers. The EESC together with its partners from Poland and Slovakia have initiated separate Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia Reality Check expert discussions. A policy paper after each discussion is produced (all documents can be found online here).
