EU’S DEPENDENCE ON RUSSIAN ENERGY RESOURCES AND THE NEW ALTERNATIVE OF OIL AND GAS EXPORTING COUNTRIES

In this paper the author tackles the EU-Russia energy relations from the beginning of their cooperation in this field until now. Likewise, the disputes that emerged, along the time, at the EU’s border and vicinity are presented and analyzed, by trying to explain how Russia uses its energy resources as a tool of hard power in its foreign policy. However, taking into consideration the previous gas crises and the policy of Russia toward the Eastern Partnership (EaP) states that aim to follow Euro-Atlantic integration, the author treats and highlights the EU’s strategic interest to establish new partnerships with other energy exporting states. In this regard, one of the EaP states that present a huge interest for the EU in order to develop a bilateral energy relation is Azerbaijan, a Caspian state with great oil and gas resources.