While the world was shocked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin follows a far more sophisticated strategy: to gain control of most of the oil and gas sources and transport hubs on the Eurasian continent and become the energy dealer of the biggest economic area: Europe as well as the supplier of the economic region with the most dynamic growth: East Asia and especially China. Read the analysis in more detail in: The Post-Soviet World: A socioeconomic Analysis from the Fall of Communsim to the Invasion of Ukraine.
Places of Russian military intervention since 2015 and its gas-pipeline-ecosystem.
To do so, the Kremlin supported first the regime in Syria and later the inofficial government in the eastern half of Libya. It intervened in Azerbaijan to tighten its friendship with a potential competitor and invaded Georgia, the bottleneck, to transport Azeri oil and gas to Europe. Together with Turkey, Moscow competes about energy sources and high profits from the European economy. The Kremlin intervened in oil-rich Kazakhstan and strengthened bonds with Almati. While on the Far East Asian chessboard, the Kremlin gained a foothold in Central Asia after the American retreat from Afghanistan. With a loose network of diplomacy and military, the Kremlin gained control of most major oil- and gas pipelines running to China.
Geopolitical events that shaped Russia’s energy- and geostrategical position around Eurasia.
Learn more about the evolution in the former USSR countries after the fall of the Iron Curtain in our book: The Post-Soviet World: A socioeconomic Analysis from the Fall of Communsim to the Invasion of Ukraine.
