Russia-Spain Cooperation on Counter-Terrorism: New Challenges or Old Problems?

Abstract

Against the backdrop of globalization, international terrorism is becoming a complex threat, which can be countered only by the united efforts of all countries. The level of cooperation of states does not fully correspond to the scale of the world terror challenge. Cooperation in the fight against terrorism at the bilateral level opens up more opportunities because it is based on mutual trust between States, with greater effectiveness, as well as practical impact and benefits, due to the knowledge of the situation and the ability to respond quickly. The inefficiency of the global counterterrorism system can be compensated by the mechanism of bilateral cooperation in the sphere of counter-terrorism, despite all the existing problems such as: sanctions, human rights, the need to promptly equate national laws and legislation in line with international laws, etc. The choice of the Russian Federation and Spain as a case study for this research is not accidental, since the interaction of both countries allows us to trace the development of mechanisms and instruments to counter terrorism on a bilateral basis. As a result of the comparative analysis, it is established that while Russian-Spanish relations began to deteriorate in 2014 as a result of the sanctions policy, the bilateral contexts of cooperation in the field of countering extremism have become comparable in two parameters: the overall level of the threat of terrorism in Russia and Spain, as well as the types of terrorist challenges on their territory.