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which was perceived as disregarding Russian interests. At times, Samokhvalov seems to overstate the importance of the Balkans and Black Sea region in EU–Russia relations, particularly when he states that this area has played ‘the major part’ (p. 156) in the relationship and has remained Russia’s Holy Grail and Promised Land under Putin (p. 199). These arguments would require more substantiated comparative analysis with other regions that are central to Russia’s foreign policy—for instance, the Baltic Sea and the Eastern European heartland. Moreover, the book does not adequately discuss the important evolution of the Russian ‘Self’ in the 2010s, when Moscow adopted a more conservative and nationalist rhetoric, with foreign policy consequences. The concluding statements that ‘Europe has become Russia’s complete antipode’ (p. 265), and that ‘Europe will change Russia’s identity’ if it keeps ‘the necessary level of pressure on Russia for the next three to five years’ (p. 265), seem disconnected from the nuanced analysis in the previous chapters. Despite these few shortcomings, Samokhvalov’s book provides an essential and balanced contribution to understanding European–Russian relations through a solid theoretical approach and impressively vast empirical work.