Abstract
The choice to fokus this Thesis on issues of Russian Energy Policy toward its neighboring countries was made acknowledging Russia’s importance in world energy markets. Russia has been engaged in conflict situations with other countries in recent years, where Russia often has been accused of using energy supplies as a mean to apply political pressure. The Thesis makes an attempt to analyze Russia’s approach in using its energy supplies.
Furthermore, the Thesis is trying to answer the question, if a membership in EU – and to some extend NATO – makes a difference for Russian Energy Policy toward the countries Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine – a country, which is neither a member of EU nor NATO. This is to be achieved through a multiple case analysis, where selected countries will confront Russian Energy Policy individually. Subsequently the following analysis continues in the form of a comparative “most different” and “most similar” case analysis.
The thesis’ analysis results in the drawing of a conclusion and perspective, which points to describe the character of Russian Energy Policy and its possible perspectives in the near future.