Russia’s war on Ukraine: unbottled emotions and the conditioning of the EU’s Russia policy

Abstract

This article explores those emotions conditioning the EU’s response to Russia’s 24 February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. We argue that the invasion resulted in an unbottling of some member states’ previously pent-up emotions, impacting the range of policy responses available to the EU in its Russia relations. We examine this unbottling to understand what this means for EU foreign policy, generally, and the EU’s Russia policy. We focus on anger and fear as identifiable emotions in the EU response to Russia’s norm violations in Ukraine; and on sympathy and solidarity as corresponding emotions directed towards Ukraine. Exploration of Eurobarometer surveys and European Parliamentary debates in the 2022–2024 period allows us to identify different intensity of feelings towards Russia, resulting from unequal exposure to Russia’s past and present aggression. Managing these competing emotions offers a complex challenge for the EU when decisions are made regarding its potential constitutional and institutional transformation.