From research: Nature of EU-Russia energy security relations before the war in Ukraine

What nature were EU-Russia energy security relations before the war in Ukraine? Until 2022, energy has been the cornerstone of EU-Russia relationship, with Russia as long-term main energy supplier. Through the prism of the EU’s dependence of Russia, energy was an important aspect of the EU’s energy policy development.

In a paper published by dr. Z. DUBSKÝ in the Energy Strategy Reviews journal, the nature of EU’s energy security discourse regarding Russia was explored, with authors focusing on the 2010–2021 period. Using the method of discourse and content analysis, close to 500 documents were examined. Those included EU-level adopted documents, speeches, statements or EU’s representatives’ public communications.

Results identified three sub-discourses: geopolitical, securitization and diversification sub-discourses. The securitization sub-discourse was predominant (mainly in 2014–2015), followed by the geopolitical sub-discourse (especially towards last years of examined period). Findings point to the dichotomy of EU-Russia relations, as Russia remained key energy supplier to the EU, however, with international pressure to revise this cooperation, Russia is no longer a partner for the EU.

Read further about this EU-Russia relations dichotomy at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211467X24000208?via%3Dihub