Same but different: Rosatom as the Kremlin’s upcoming leverage?

Abstract

ABSTRACT Russia’s relations with the EU have worsened over the past decade, and energy-related issues have been part of this regress. The attention has been mostly turned to natural gas and Gazprom, while Rosatom, another state-controlled energy giant, has been largely overlooked, although it may be the next vehicle fostering Russia’s foreign policy goals. To find out whether this is the case, Hungary and Finland were chosen as case studies to determine whether Rosatom serves as leverage for Russian political influence. The research utilized the authors’ analytical model to find manifestations of strategic behavior, pointing at political leveraging of the deals in point. The findings revealed that Russia could use Rosatom’s nuclear deals as vehicles for its foreign policy goals. The outcome is, however, case-specific, depending on the leeway given by the host country.