How did the Ukraine crisis affect the gas relationship between Russia and the EU?

Abstract

The Ukraine crisis had caused the deteriorating relations of Russia and the EU; these relations were not this bad since the cold war era. Despite this, both the EU and Russia want to maintain healthy relationship in the gas sector. This is because they are both highly dependent on each other. This gas relationship is complicated because of the Ukraine crisis, this is because firstly Ukraine is the main transit country, and secondly this Crisis had caused the EU to worry that Russia might use its gas as a political leverage on Ukraine and the EU. With this situation, the gas relationship with Russia had become politicised and securitised. This dissertation want to answer the research question ‘How did the Ukraine crisis affect the gas relationship between Russia and the EU? This dissertation want to really understand the actual implication of the Ukraine crisis on the gas relationship between Russia and the EU. To achieve this goal, this dissertation is going to analyse the Russia-EU gas trade from various perspectives, and will see what where the actual affects. Also, this dissertation is going to use the theories of realism, energy security, and interdependence. The methodological framework that it is going to be used are case study research and qualitative research.