Zlatev Valentin

№ 3, 2000

• Balkan Geopolitical Knot: Energetic Aspects

  Having reviewed the current alignment of forces in the Balkans the author analyzes the influence of factors related to energy carriers transportation on the foreign policy situation in the region. He stresses that transit has always been a vitally important link between the producers and the consumers of energy resources, and shows that the problem of transit being a major one in the energy policy is acquiring a geopolitical and geostrategic nature, and the pipelines change not only the political but the geographical landscape of Europe. The author describes the strategy of leading Russian oil and gas companies in the Balkans substantiating the thesis that these companies are the most powerful weapon of the Russian state, a connecting link between Russia and the EU as well as a decisive factor of the Russian presence in Europe and in the Balkans, in particular. At the same time, the author is convinced that an effective oil and gas policy in the region is impossible without taking into account the specifics of the Balkan geopolitical knot.

  DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2000-17-3-122-141

  Pages: 122-141