Eastern Europe is experiencing increased tension due Russia’s troop build-up on Ukraine’s borders. At the same time, Russia, the key energy supplier to Europe, is finishing a major pipeline, Nord Stream 2, set to carry natural gas via the Baltic Sea directly to western Europe. Over time, the project has become a divisive issue among the European states and exposed possible differences between the US and Germany, the pipeline's most prominent advocate in Europe. The opponents see the pipeline as a Russian foreign policy tool, allowing it to exert pressure not only on Ukraine, but also on the rest of Europe. Once the key transit country for Russian gas to European consumers, Ukraine feels particularly endangered as the pipeline would redirect the bulk of the gas transit elsewhere, leaving the country exposed to Russian pressure.
This event will take a look at the following issues:
- the role of energy in Russia's foreign policy towards central and eastern European countries
- the conditions enabling the misuse of energy as political leverage
- Nord Stream 2 as a divisive issue in central Europe – what went wrong and why?
- the role of the US in the Nord Stream 2 issue – European perceptions
- possible scenarios of future development
Speaker:
