Russia's Unsustainable Energy Model

Russia has taken a significant step in its bid to become a dominant international energy supplier, one that has important implications for its relations with the European Union and its prospects of returning quickly to the high growth rates that have underpinned its national recovery in recent years. Monday marks the end of the 60-day notification period after which Russia’s provisional application of the energy charter treaty (ECT) will formally come to an end. Announced in August as Europeans headed for the beach, Russia’s repudiation of the ECT should be read as a clear signal of strategic intent. The Kremlin’s statist and highly politicised approach to the use of energy resources is here to stay and any lingering European hope that Russia might be persuaded to accept an energy relationship based on commercial logic and multilateral rules can now be forgotten. Henceforth European energy security policy will have to take account of that fact.