PRESENT-DAY RUSSIA: CHALLENGE FOR EUROPEAN UNITY?

"A Revanchist Russia is the greatest threat to European security", claimed Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, the Commander of United States European Command (USEUCOM).1 Similarly, Lt-Gen Frederick Ben Hodges, the Commander of the US Army in Europe termed Russia a 'real threat'.2 Russia's role in the Georgian and Ukrainian crises may be taken as proof of the perspicacity of the aforementioned American army leaders. At the same time, the growing US interest in European affairs, particularly Eastern Europe, is also quite apparent, since the past decade or so. The US may perceive the Russian interventions in Eastern Europe as a hindrance in its ambition to bring Eastern European states in its own circle of influence, perhaps as members of NATO.