Economic Warfare a la Russe: The Energy Weapon and Russian national security strategy

Abstract

Some studies have already been done on the energy factor in Russian foreign policy during the Ukrainian crisis of 2006 and 2009. Energy affairs at a global and regional level have changed. We examine how Russia has used energy as an instrument of foreign policy in the context of the US shale revolution, the new Ukrainian crisis, and low oil prices in Europe, Eurasia, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. The goal of this article is to examine how Russia is using energy as a foreign policy instrument in the context of the US shale revolution, the Ukrainian crisis and low oil prices in 2010-2015. Russia energy weapon resembles a Swiss army knife that simultaneously cuts in many directions, at home, in the CIS, and in Eastern and Central Europe, and the Asia-Pacific. This war holds lessons for the West who must wage its own contemporary economic wars. It is important to understand that while energy policy as a form of economic warfare can be and generally is deployed autonomously, Moscow often uses economic warfare in conjunction with military force, arms sales, or to achieve some strategic goals.