Russia resumes its power in Europe with natural gas

Russian President Vladimir Putin must be feeling smug. His strategy of using his country’s vast natural resources to restore the greatness lost after the break-up of the Soviet Union seems to be paying off. If power is measured by the fear instilled in others — as many Russians believe — he is certainly winning.

In today’s Russia, energy is the tool of influence. To use it, the Kremlin needs three things: control over Russian energy reserves and production, control over the pipelines across its territory and that of its neighbors, and hard-to-break long-term contracts with European customers. All three are in place. For all the talk of a common strategy toward Russia, the European Union is divided and stuck for an answer.
Gazprom, Russia’s energy giant, cherished by Putin as a “powerful lever of economic and political influence in the world,” has long-term supply contracts with most European countries. The E.U. reckons that half its natural-gas imports now come from Russia. Newer E.U. members, such as Hungary and the Czech Republic, are almost entirely dependent on Russian gas. Moreover, a pipeline network that Russia inherited from the Soviet Union gives it control over gas imported from Central Asia.

The E.U. has few ideas for how to deal with its chief energy supplier. “We know we should do something about Russia, but we don’t know what,” one Brussels official said. “In the E.U. we negotiate on the rules, whereas Russia wants to do deals.”

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