The subject of this study is the sanctions policy of the European Union towards the Russian Federation as an element of the contemporary international political system. The article focuses on the legal and institutional foundations underlying the formation of EU sanctions regimes, as well as on the specific features of their functioning within the framework of the Common Foreign and Security Policy. The study examines key EU normative acts regulating the introduction and implementation of individual and sectoral restrictive measures and analyses their role within the mechanism of external policy influence. Particular attention is paid to the relationship between the formal legal construction of sanctions and issues related to their perception in international relations. The research employs formal legal analysis of decisions and regulations adopted by the Council of the European Union, complemented by elements of content analysis aimed at identifying legal grounds, structural features, and normative formulations of sanctions mechanisms. The scientific novelty of the study lies in a systematic examination of EU sanctions policy from the perspective of its legal and political legitimacy. Sanctions are analyzed not only as an instrument of external policy pressure, but also as an institutionally and normatively structured mechanism functioning within the system of international relations. This approach expands existing empirical and institutional interpretations of sanctions regimes by emphasizing their legal structure, decision-making procedures, and conditions of application. The results of the study contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the factors shaping the formation and perception of EU sanctions policy in the contemporary international political context and its role within the system of international relations.
Ljiljana Filipovic (Sun,) studied this question.