In early December, Russia formally terminated military cooperation agreements with Portugal, France, and Canada. The actions dismantled diplomatic frameworks established between 1989 and 2000.
By focusing retaliation on specific accords, the Kremlin maintained a desire to shed diplomatic weight without disturbing the underlying financial machinery.
Erasure of Symbolism
The pacts Moscow chose to abandon were artifacts of a bygone era of optimism. The agreement with Canada belonged to the immediate post-1989 effort to coordinate with the West. Similarly, the 1994 agreement with France accompanied the push to integrate Russia into European security structures.
Moscow adheres to the precedent set in mid-2025 where the state ended a defence cooperation agreement with Germany.
Russia is systematically stripping away ceremonial obligations that yield no tangible strategic utility. The Kremlin is cleaning house, removing decorative elements of international contact to focus entirely on agreements that pay.
The Resilience of Trade
The 1997 Partnership and Cooperation Agreement confirms the tenacity of established trade routes. In 2024, Russia held its position as the EU’s 15th largest trading partner.
Through such enduring framework, the commercial pipeline delivered €31.5 billion in EU exports to Russia in 2024. The volume of commerce in chemicals, food, and machinery proves that market forces possess a surprising immunity to political friction.
Strategic Immunities
The energy sector functions within a protected bubble of necessity. In 2024, the EU authorised over $700 million for the import of Russian uranium products to keep reactors running.
Nineteen nuclear power units within the EU require entirely the specific technical specifications of Russian uranium assemblies.
Framatome secured the supply of such material from its Lingen plant in Germany, a decision that placed grid stability first.
Rosatom dominates the international market so thoroughly that the entity has become indispensable. With Moscow responsible for nearly half of the world’s new reactor construction, the industry finds itself inextricably bound to Russian technology.
The Paralysis of Exposure
Sixty bilateral investment treaties impose a quiet caution on European decision-makers.
Such legal instruments generate substantial risks for any state attempting to seize assets. Belgian officials now exercise extreme prudence to avoid arbitration.
The massive scale of reciprocal financial exposure enforces a mutual stalemate. With billions invested on both sides, the economic reality dictates a level of restraint that politics alone cannot override.
Transactional Survival
Russia wagers everything on a strategy of transactional survival. Such tactics secure revenue today. However, the anticipated loss of €160 billion in gas revenue alludes to the eventual limits of such improvisation.
For now, the surviving commercial frameworks generate the capital Moscow requires. Time will determine if such pursuit of immediate liquidity compensates for the total loss of long-term partnership.
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