The Importance of Energy Factor in Russia-EU Relations

Geographical proximity of Russia and the EU، Moscow’s political، security and economic influence، Russia-EU high trade turnover and sensitive sphere of energy have made inevitable the cooperation and partnership between the EU and Russia. Although Russia is an extremely sophisticated partner for the EU، improving interaction between the two sides is possible and dependent on merging of their political aims on strategic issues including to ensure energy supply security. Energy security is one of the most controversial issues among the Eu - Russia negotiation and cooperation. Since the 1960s، the energy variable has played a vital role، in a way that the formal and informal relations between Russia and European countries have experienced increasing growth. This paper maintains that promoting relations between Russia and the EU would excessively depend on their mutual energy cooperation. Therefore، redefining Russia-EU energy relations and principal goals of Russian energy policy towards EU and vice versa are of considerable importance. From this point of view، the different degree of interdependence in the Russia-EU energy relations، diversified interests and the both sides’ aims in energy policy-making have had a negative impact on the bilateral relations in this strategic area.