Geopolitics And Russia-Belarus Energy Dispute In 2004

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union,one of the main questions for Russia was how to relate to the fourteen newly emerged states in near abroad.This issue formed part of the wider debate in Russia on dividing its interests in changed territorial conditions.The former Soviet Union countries were now seen as the natural sphere of influence of Russia characterized with high degree of political and economic interdependence,what is particularly seen in energy relations.For Russia,control over energy supplies has become "one of the most important positioning tools in the world." Energy as an area of international cooperation was the basis of the formation of regional Russian relations at the present stage.At the same time,Belarus for Russia became a geopolitically significant region,dividing it from Western countries.In September 1999,Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin first time visited Belarus.He proclaimed that Belarus was a foreign policy priority and agreed to cancel $70 million of the country's gas debt.The issue of such cancellation was unclear;however,the same month the Belarusian leg of the Yamal-Europe pipeline began to supply gas to Europe,which had been conceived primarily as a means of avoiding such unreliable transit way as Ukraine.Russia's increased transit dependency provided president of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko with a new lever of influence,namely lower transit tariffs in exchange for reduced gas pricesThere were few reasons for recession of the relations between two countries,which led to 2004 energy dispute.The politicization of Russia-Belarus gas relations coincided with a new treaty on the creation of a Union State,that was signed in December 1999,and proclaimed the first significant step of Russia-Belarus integration.As a result,Russian state-owned gas supplier Gazprom moved to ensure the reliability of gas transits to Europe by attempting to establish control over the Belarusian transit network.According to the intergovernmental agreement signed in April 2002,Belarus promised to sell 50% of Beltransgaz,the company owning the Belarusian transit network,to Gazprom.The agreement also stipulated that gas prices to Belarus would be the same as Russian domestic prices for the next five years.However,the contract did not specify the value of Beltransgaz.Thus the political agreements that had given Belarus the right to purchase gas at Russian domestic prices were now broken,Gazprom,backed by the Russian government,now moved to abolish the price discounts.Gazprom stated that if an agreement would not signed until 2004,it would increase gas prices from $30/m to $50 per 1,000 cubic meters.Belarus refused,and on 1 January 2004,Gazprom stopped shipping gas via the Northern lights pipeline.Belarus compensated by siphoning from gas meant for transit to Europe,which on 18 February resulted in Gazprom completely shutting off the supply to Belarus.Other companies supplied Belarus on short-term contracts until June 2004,when a new contract with Gazprom was finally signed.The outcome of the negotiations was that both countries came to collaboration,Gazprom increase prices of gas supplying for Belarus,while Belarus increase its transit tariffs for Russian gas,which was distributed to Europe.However,Russia also agreed to grant Belarus a loan of $175 million to pay for gas,moreover by the end of 2004,while both sides settled the same agreement for next year,Russia gave Belarus $146 million as one more loan.My research is focused around the following research question: Why did Russia provide concessions to Belarus during the energy crisis in 2004?The main hypothesis guiding this work is geopolitical aspect.After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991,Belarus became an important sphere of influence as a buffer zone between Russia and Western countries,so Russia had to give concessions to Belarus in negotiations.In terms of the timeframe,the thesis covers the period from 1991 to 2004.The choice of the lower boundary of the time frame is connected with the end of the era of the Soviet Union and the emergence of a new order in the region.In consequence,the 1990 s are viewed from the point of view of the formation of foreign political relations between Russia and the Republic of Belarus.In addition,as a historical context,the periods of tension in the energy sector between the two countries are being considered,which partly affected the crisis of 2004.Starting in 2000,due to the change in the ruling elite in Russia and the change in foreign policy paradigms,a new round of relations between Russia and Belarus,which led to the crisis of 2004.The thesis is divided into five chapters: the first chapter is introduction,where the brief historical background is given.Here we can find the explanation and description of the significance of the research and also considers the events that led to Russia Belarus energy crisis of 2004.The theoretical approach is also explained in the first chapter.Chapter two is fully devoted to the development of Russian-Belarusian relations in various fields after the collapse of the Soviet Union.Their economic and political cooperation is being considered.Much of the chapter is devoted to energy issues of relations between countries,namely,the political reasons for close cooperation between the two countries are revealed.In addition,periods of tension between countries that occurred before the 2004 crisis were considered.Without detailed consideration of this period,it is impossible to fully assess the nature of the relationship between Russia and Belarus.The third chapter reveals the geopolitical component of relations between Russia and Belarus.The chapter provides an assessment of the importance of the energy sector for Russia in pursuing foreign policy.In addition,the geopolitical role of Belarus for Russia as a strategically important region is considered.Chapter 4 is dedicated to the crisis of 2004.The first part of the chapter observes the pre-crisis situation of late 90s-early 2000 s,however most part it examines the events that have occurred since 2003 and were the origin of the crisis,ending in mid-2004,when the first agreements were signed after the negotiations.The second part of the chapter deals directly with the period of the negotiations,when the terms on which the agreements were signed,moreover chapter provide evidences which confirm that Russia provide concessions to Belarus during negotitions,to stop escalating conflict with geopolitically significant region.The fifth chapter is the conclusion of the research work.In conclusion,based on the data received during the writing of the work,giving the answer to the research question.