Balmaceda, Margarita M. The Politics of Energy Dependency: Ukraine, Belarus, and Lithuania Between Domestic Oligarchs and Russian Pressure 1992-2012

摘要

Energy security is considered a priority by any government, but not all nations are able to deal with various threats to their own energy insecurity. The Soviet Union's dissolution tested this argument, and many newly independent countries confronted energy instability. With the Soviet's collapse, many nations shifted from an energy-abundant union to independent states that were still deeply energy dependent. The Soviet Union's energy infrastructure was established with the intent of supplying energy for the entire union, and certainly not from the viewpoint of guaranteeing energy security to each individual republic. As a result, Russia turned into an energy superpower with large resources of gas and oil, which gave it international leverage and political influence over ex-Soviet republics. Former Soviet Union countries were left alone with symbolic institutions, yet were unable to deal with enormous administrative tasks. Among the republics that are highly dependent on Russian energy are Belarus, Lithuania, and Ukraine.