"Can a nation be free if it oppresses other nations? It cannot." The words of Russia's late great leader Lenin are inscribed on a statue in Nehru Park in India. The Russia of today is not the Russia that Lenin had envisioned at the height of the soviet power, instead today Russia lays a fragmented part of its former self, once the beacon of communism now a shadow of its former self. Lenin stood for the ideals of communism and despised the capitalistic "greed" of the western nations. It's almost ironic now that Russia has strayed seemingly far from the principles of its last great visionary becoming a capitalistic state itself. Russia controls a large portion of raw resources that are exported to Europe as well as other continents (citation needed). This control allows Russia tremendous bargaining power throughout the region. In particular, Russia distributes natural gas to much of central and Eastern Europe; approximately 173 billion cubic meters was sold in 2007 alone according to a CIA world fact book estimate. This past year Russia, in an openly defiant act cut of the supply of natural gas all the way to France in response to allegations that Ukraine was stealing from their pipeline. This event impacted millions of people across Europe forcing closures from businesses to schools. This type of behavior is not acceptable by international standards as such actions put great strain on international relations, and it endangers human life and economic stability of a whole region. Although the current geopolitical stability of Europe is not solely the responsibility of Russia, the Russian government must restrict the negative ways in which it interacts economically with the rest of Europe because it is unjust, strains international ties and jeopardizes the stability of the region.
Before one can assign blame one in this socio-economic problem one must look at the entire issue in order to understand how Russia and most of Europe got into the current economic situation that affects all of them. As of the year 2000 as many as 12 of 33 European nations (including former eastern block countries) were 100 percent reliant on foreign natural gas importation, another 7 of the 33 were more than 95 percent reliant. Of those total 19 countries Russia has been the main supplier of natural gas and LPG (Liquid Propane Gas) (Stern, 12). That natural gas dependence in and of itself hasn't posed a problem to Russia or the dependent nations, what has proved to be a problem is the supply route for the natural gas. Approximately 90 percent of natural gas leaving Russia travels via a Russian/Ukrainian pipeline to the rest of Europe including Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, and further down Germany and France (Stern, 14). Russia claims that Ukraine had been "stealing" natural gas and on January 1st 2009 they completely halted gas imports to Ukraine only to resume limited services four days later stating that Ukraine will only receive partial shipments due to the amount stolen. While this issue seems as if it may boil down to petty accounting problem and business bickering when ones looks at the history of negotiations between Russia and the rest of Europe in the last five years fundamental problems seem to appear.
Since the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990's Russia has undergone major economic and social restructuring. Russia has been the sole supplier of natural gas for a large portion of Europe for almost two decades and it had been speculated early on that there was no inherent risk in Russia strong arming other nations both as a group or individually as there were no potential gains for doing so (Stern Soviet and Russian Gas). This view was altered in January 2006 when Russia's energy company Gazprom, which is directly controlled by the Russian government, essentially did just that and strong armed Ukraine into paying significantly higher prices for natural gas roughly increasing the price threefold(Nichol, 3). While there was no direct political correlation to this act two things became evident, first, that Russia is willing to demand unreasonable gas price hikes under threat of a complete shut off, and secondly, that these actions if carried through in the future would lead to a significant destabilization of the regions political and economic sectors(Victor).
But why has Russia infuriated it's neighbors and threatened them twice publically in front of the international community? In both instances money seems to be the likely factor for Russia's aggressive policies. The 2006 incident as well as one in 2009 are similar in that Russia economic situation has been destabilized has lead to them attempting to regain lost capital by using the fact that they have the ability as the sole producer of natural gas to gain unfair leverage in the region. In both cases when Ukraine has not responded to price increase Russia shuts off the pipeline. The ethical implications of these acts are appalling. Not only is Russia taking advantage of their position as the sole supplier of natural gas to arbitrarily bully other nations they treat the commonwealth of other nations as collateral damage; commonwealth in this instance being the stability, security and safety of other nations receiving natural gas downstream of Ukraine's pipeline.
Lenin once said "I don't care what becomes of Russia. To hell with it. All this is only the road to a World Revolution." -1918. The leader of the Soviet Union spoke once that he does not care the fate of Russia, for it was only a stepping stone towards his own vision of world order. Perhaps then it's best that he never saw what has become of his former state. Russia itself forcing its will onto less powerful nations, still waging war just as It did before the fall of Soviet Union, this time without bullets or bomb but rather with the power of economics, the result can be just as brutal however. It wasn't just the act of shutting off of Europe's gas supply that outrages me and others, but rather the attitude and intent that such a brazen act provokes. Acts such as these put to many lives, careers and economies in turmoil, both financially and physically. Hopefully in the future Russia will learn that despite it's once great power and subsequent twenty year long downfall their government can interact in a positive way with their European neighbors to promote economic and geo politically stability. It's unclear of what the future for Russia's economy is but we pray that it's a sensible one.
Works Cited
Elizabeth Brainerd. Winners and Losers in Russia's Economic Transition .The American Economic Review, Vol. 88 No. 5 Dec., 1998, Pages (1094-1116)
CIA World Fact Book
<https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rs.html>
CRS Report for Congress Russian Natural Gas: Regional Dependence. January 5th 2007. Bernard A . Gleb
CRS Report for Congress Russia's Cutoff of Natural Gas to Ukraine: Context and Implications, February 15th 2006. Jim Nichol and Steven Woehrel
The Economist print edition (online). Gasping for gas. January 15th 2009.
<http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12953847>
Richard E. Ericson The Post-Soviet Russian Economic System: An Industrial Feudalism?. Institute for Economies in Transition No.8 2000
Dr. Andreas Heinrich. International implications of increased state control over the Russian oil and gas sector. 23 June 2006
"Andrew E. Kramer "Russia cuts off gas deliveries to Ukraine. International Herald Tribune January 2nd 2009:
A29
Qatar News Agency Russia/ Ukraine reach deal to resume gas supplies to Europe January 18th 2009
"Russia shuts off gas to Ukraine" BBC World News January 1st 2009
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7806870.stm>
Allen C. Lynch Roots of Russia's Economic Dilemmas: Liberal Economics and Illiberal Geography.
Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 54, No. 1 (Jan., 2002 Pages(31-49)
http://www.jstor.org/stable/826216
John Stern. Security of European Natural Gas Supplies: The impact of import dependence and liberalization. The Royal Institute of International Affairs. July 2002 Page (1-36)
"Ukraine accused of stealing gas" BBC World News January 2nd 2009
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7808465.stm>
"Nadejda M. Victor " Russia's Gas Crunch, Thursday April 6, 2006 The Washington Post
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