FSU Geopolitics and Weaponization of EU-Russia Energy Interdependencies

Abstract

EU-Russia energy interdependence comprises a complex mixture of cooperation and disputes. However, the events of 2014 surrounding the political crisis in Ukraine reinforced the conflictual pattern of relations. It has now been recognized that many underestimated the depth of Russia’s increasing resentment towards the EU’s normative expansion to post-Soviet countries. In 2014, the geopolitical tensions in the FSU started to take a different shape, characterized by the collapse of the pan-European order of values declared in the Charter of Paris in 1990. This situation clearly impacts on the political and institutional links in EU-Russia relations. Therefore, particular attention should be paid to the emerging situation in which norms and practices are either being transformed or seriously challenged. Likewise, the development of intra-FSU disputes, which stem from the gas transit ‘wars’ of the early 2000s provides an opportunity for the EU to play the role of mediator in the region.