There is no doubt that Russia’s initial contribution to a stabilisation of frozen conflicts within the cis was remarkable. However, Russia progressively adopted policies clearly favouring the secessionist entities, which casts doubt on the neutrality of Russian mediation. This development calls for a readjustment of the role played by the international community in this region. For their own particular reasons, European Union and nato are both seeking to contribute more actively to regional stability. These organisations – whose efforts used to go hand in hand following the end of the cold war – have adopted divergent policies since the mid-2000s. As a consequence, only the eu is willing to get involved in the peace processes in order to settle the frozen conflicts.