A Resurgent Russia

Russia is often considered an energy superpower because it has the largest known natural gas reserves in the world, the second largest coal reserves, and the eighth largest oil reserves. Its energy superpower status has recently become a hot topic in the European Union and the United States.

Both, the EU and the US have accused Russia of using its natural resources as a policy tool to wield power against offending states such as Georgia, the Ukraine, and Poland. At the beginning of 2006 Russia dramatically increased the price of gas for the Ukraine following that country’s so-called “Orange Revolution”. Recently, Russia has doubled natural gas prices to the Republic of Georgia, following an international incident in an alleged effort to strongly influence the Georgian leadership’s defiance of Moscow. As soon as Russia recovered a measure of its economic strength, it was always going to seek to regain a measure of its international influence. However, this will remain vastly more limited than that of the Soviet Union, and Russia is also bound to the West by dependence on international investment and the international market economy. This should act as a deterrent to reckless moves by Moscow.

Which impact will Putin’s remarks during the International Security Conference in Munich have for the future of the relations between Russia and the West? Are we headed for a new Cold War? Does the West need a new Strategy for Russia? Will Germany be able to advance energy safety in the region during its EU presidency?

This event is co-sponsored by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation.

To RSVP, please send an e-mail with your name and contact information to tad@usa.fnst.org

Participants

• Alexander Graf Lambsdorff
  Deputy Chairman of the FDP, European Parliament
• Anatol Lieven
  Senior Fellow, New America Foundation