This first workshop of the Europe and Russia and Ukraine working group brings together policy practitioners and academics for the discussion of relations between the EU and Russia in a historical perspective. The workshop addresses both the evolution of the EU’s strategy towards its neighbours to the East, and Russia’s perception of the EU in the context of crisis over Ukraine. In view of the EU’s attempts to revise its relationship with Russia over the crisis in Ukraine, the workshop explores the causes of the stalemate and aims to evaluate how it can be overcome.