European environmental assistance to the region of Pskov in northwest Russia: sustainability, effectiveness and implications for environmental governance

Development of sustainable urban drainage systems in Eastern Europe: an analytical overview of the constraints and enabling conditions

“…If measured by the number of their own resources put into the project by aid beneficiaries (Z€ urn 1998), then all the funded actions are extremely successful, as formal co-financing requirements are always met by municipalities and governmental agencies. As observed for Russia (Shkaruba et al 2018) (and partly for Belarus), 'real' co-financing (i.e. involving the actual movement of finances or other resources) occurs only if such activities were very likely to be implemented at some point later without any external assistance.…”

“…Some administrative procedures related to international aid are easier to follow in Russia, although there have been some negative recent developments such as the introduction of institutions of 'foreign agents' (i.e. NGOs in receipt of foreign grants), and due to recent political trends, public bodies are becoming more cautious as regards finance coming from abroad (Shkaruba et al 2018). As a result of its frontier location, Pskov is still relatively open to international initiatives.…”

“…As long as the EU is considered in Eastern European countries a prime example and source of good practices for most environmental matters (Shkaruba et al 2018), and because NBS and SUDS are broadly and increasingly promoted by EU institutions and member states, the lessons learned by the EU need a critical reflection vis-a-vis the regional SUDS implementation contexts. Indeed, the EU itself provides a very broad variety of such contexts.…”

A Tale of Two Protected Areas: “Value and Nature Conservation” in Comparable National Parks in Estonia and Russia

“…Explaining their attitude, respondents in Karula NP often referred to past experiences when many project-based solutions and infrastructure (e.g., hiking trails, and observation towers) had been created without clear means for sustainable maintenance, and therefore often failed due to neglect, and needed to be demolished. In contrast, any changes, large and small, are welcome in Sebezhsky NP, as long as they bring life to this "marginal" area [61], even though there are many known examples in the region of abandoned "project-based" infrastructure [62]. In particular, this is well demonstrated through the attitude to holidaymakers and their summer houses.…”

Modernization of Russia’s foreign and security policy

“…During the 1990s and 2000s, a significant amount of foreign assistance funds flowed to the Russian state to facilitate environmental protection (see, e.g., Darst 2001). When funding was not available, environmental concerns were mostly omitted (see, e.g., Shkaruba et al 2018). Furthermore, environmental argumentation in terms of concern about the anticipated environmental impacts of e.g.…”