RUSSIA AND THE EU: A TREND CHANGE IN ENERGY RELATIONS

Abstract

Aim. To analyze the Russia-EU energy relations in the first quarter of the XXI century to find out the reasons for a trend change in them - from cooperation to confrontation.Methodology. The research was conducted with the use of the historical, comparative, systemic and structural-functional methods, and is based on the assumptions of the realist, liberal and constructivist schools of the theory of international relations.Results. The author concludes that the Ukrainian crisis erupted in 2014 substantially undermined the cooperative trend in the Russia-EU energy relations, but the special military operation launched by Russia against Ukraine in 2022 ultimately reversed it into confrontation. The trend reversal can be explained either by the willingness of Brussels and Moscow to use energy for political purposes in the logic of political realism or by the deep value and political gap between the EU and Russia that made it impossible to maintain their energy interdependence.Research implications. The results of the research contribute to a proper scientific understanding of the Russia-EU energy relations in the XXI century, and may substantially facilitate future studies in the same field.

Keywords

• Russia
• European Union
• energy relations
• energy
• cooperation
• sanctions