The article analyses the development of European Studies (ES) research and education in Russia and assesses various external influences in that process. Although ES were part of the cultural and academic agenda during the Soviet Union period, it was only with the end of the Cold War and the intensification of European Union–Russian bilateral relations that ES began to raise significant interest in the Russian academia, leading to the proliferation of research and teaching activities, and later to the institutionalization of ES as a separate subject area through specific educational programmes.