The Northern Dimension of the Russian Gas Strategy

Author(s): Jakub Godzimirski
Editor(s): Matthias Neumann, Robert Orttung, Jeronim Perovic, Heiko Pleines, Hans-Henning Schröder
Series: Russian Analytical Digest (RAD)
Issue: 58
Pages: 2-5
Publisher(s): Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zurich; Research Centre for East European Studies, University of Bremen
Publication Year: 2009

The gas conflict between Russia and Ukraine that broke out in January 2009 underscored again the vulnerability of Russia's main gas customers in Europe. In a situation when 70 percent of Russian gas exported to European customers has to be shipped through the territory of Ukraine, which has its own unsettled energy scores with Russia, any sharpening of the conflict between those two countries has dire consequences for security of supply of Russia's main gas customers further west and south. The EU, Russia and Ukraine are aware of the situation and each of these three actors has adopted a different strategy to cope with this difficult challenge. In order to understand what has been the Russian long-term strategic response to that challenge this article examines what could be termed the Northern dimension of the Russian gas strategy.

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