Russia's energy policy and its strategy for international projection in the post-Soviet space (2000-2018)

• Grant number: 22/01465-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: June 01, 2022
• End date: September 30, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Political Science - International Politics
• Principal Investigator: Luís Alexandre Fuccille
• Grantee: José Késsio Floro Lemos
• Supervisor: Tom Casier
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências (FFC). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Marília. Marília , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Kent, England
• Associated to the scholarship: 19/02536-1 - The Russian energy policy and its international projection strategy in the Post-Soviet space (2000-2018), BP.DR

Abstract

The main objective of this research is to evaluate the impacts that Russian energy policy has had on the geopolitical configuration of the post-Soviet space. In other words, to identify whether the possible use of energy as a foreign policy weapon has attracted or distanced the countries in that region from the sphere of influence of the Russian state. We start from the premise that Moscow has sought to use energy policy and its privileged monopolistic position as a hydrocarbon exporter to coerce the former Soviet republics into political alignment with the Kremlin. After all, after the disintegration of the USSR, the perception is that the country's security conditions began to deteriorate. Institutions historically hostile to Russia, such as NATO and the European Union, are expanding and carrying the West's geopolitical interest very close to its borders, bringing many countries in the region closer politically to the Western powers. In order to achieve the intended objectives, we will use the process-trancing technique combined with the energy weapon model, which proposes to explain all stages of the use of energy as a political weapon, from the conversion of capabilities to the final result of coercion. Russia's energy policies for Ukraine, Georgia, Belarus, Lithuania and Estonia, between 2000 and 2018, and their repercussions for the regional geopolitical situation will be analyzed. (AU)