Russia's New Political Leadership and its Implication for East Siberian Development and Energy Cooperation with North East Asian States

Author(s): Yoshinori Takeda
Editor(s): Jeronim Perovic, Robert Orttung, Matthias Neumann, Heiko Pleines, Hans-Henning Schröder
Series: Russian Analytical Digest (RAD)
Issue: 33
Pages: 5-8
Publisher(s): Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zurich; Research Centre for East European Studies, University of Bremen
Publication Year: 2008

The transition from Putin to Medvedev marks an important new beginning for the future of East Siberian energy resources and their impact on Russia's Asian neighbors. East Siberian resources have not been developed, but could have great impact on Russia's relations with Asia. China currently has the best relations with Russia, while Japan has made little progress, and Korea has secured one major deal. The Korean arrangements with Russia could serve as a model for future ties because they strongly favor the Russian side, which maintains a 60 percent share of the project while taking on little risk. In the future, Russia's energy decisions will continue to have strong political motivations, but they will be based on better defined rules of the game. Essentially, Russia will use its energy resources to develop the Russian state and only allow foreign companies to participate in projects that meet Russia's national interest.

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