Abstract: Both Russia and the EU demonstrate aspirations to shape the international order at the global scale. However, their respective visions differ significantly. The EU, itself creating regional international society, aspires to influence the global order in its own mould. Russia at the same time is predominantly pluralist, although with selected solidarist features. The article seeks to upgrade the Russian–EU relationship to the global level, by the way of analysing how both actors attempt to reconcile their respective visions of IS and what are the possible consequences for global IS. To study the issue, major post-Iraq international crises (Iranian, Middle Eastern, Kosovo) are chosen as case studies. The selected crises touch upon crucial issues for the IS: the use of force, the non-intervention principle, human rights causes, the application of sanctions and the inclusion-exclusion issue. The article aims to look at the ways in wchich both actors define their scope of common interests, reinterpret and construct the rules of global IS, and to what extent they are able to influence the emerging global order.