Bakanova A. Influence of the European Union and the Russian Federation on the foreign policy of the states of “New Eastern Europe”.

The dissertation examines the countries of the New Eastern Europe (CEE) region, namely Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus, which throughout the post-communist period show features that are different from both the Russian Federation and the Central and Eastern European countries that are members of the EU. At the same time, Russia and the EU are the main actors influencing the development of the region, so the application in the study of comparative analysis of relations not only Ukraine but also its closest neighbors - Moldova and Belarus - with the EU and Russia can provide new knowledge on the prospects Ukraine as an independent actor. The influence of Russia and the EU on the countries of New Eastern Europe has been studied by both domestic and foreign scholars, but in this paper Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine were considered not only as "objects" of the struggle of leading regional and global states, but as subjects of own interests and its foreign policy strategy. The most negative factors influencing the development of the CEE states are the problems of Transnistria and Crimea for Moldova and Ukraine, and the preservation of the authoritarian regime of Alexander Lukashenko for Belarus.