COOPERATION BETWEEN THE EU AND RUSSIA IN THE SPHERE OF CULTURE

The article is devoted to theoretical grounds and consideration of the details of the practical cooperation between the EU and Russia in the sphere of culture. It is shown that the cultural policy of the European Union at present is a completely independent element in the system of the integration strategies of the organization. Now the European cultural policy is characterized by the gap between declared intentions and actual results, and financial difficulties. This gap is associated with both the measures to counter the mass culture, and efforts at social support of workers of culture, as well as with a small number of cultural events, the address focused on people with low incomes. It is established that similar complexity characterize and Russian cultural policy. The author emphasizes that theoretical and conceptual study of cultural policy has never been a strong point of the Russian side of the cooperation. The article emphasizes that the complex mentioned reasons certainly will not mean an end to EU-Russia cultural dialogue, but it would significantly complicate it. The second part of the article is devoted to the analysis of the details of the practical cooperation between the EU and Russia in the cultural space. Here are specific examples that clearly demonstrate how significant the capacity for international cultural cooperation between the EU and Russia, so diverse and significant challenges to its implementation. Noted that the main components of the current cooperation between Russia in the sphere of culture with the EU are currently implemented on two levels, which conditionally can be designated as classic and modern. The first level is traditionally considered cultural symbols of our country, which certainly recognizable and enjoyed constant success. The second measurement level of cooperation can be attributed to the cultural symbols of Russia as a modern country. This element of cooperation, in contrast to the first, is still very poorly developed. Considerable attention is paid to this sphere of Russian-European cultural cooperation as tourism. Its realities are considered on the example of the settings of tourist attraction for Europeans in St. Petersburg. The author claims that St. Petersburg, "the most European of Russian cities", according to many authoritative experts, will have to go a very long way to go to become "city high recurrence", like many European capitals.