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Energy Resources and Markets – Perspectives on the Russia–Ukraine War

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 July 2020

Jokull Johannesson  and
David Clowes
Jokull Johannesson
Affiliation:
School of Business and Law, University of Agder, PO Box, 455 Kristiansand, Norway
David Clowes
Affiliation:
School of International Trade and Economics, Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, No. 169 East Shuanggang Road, Changbei, Nanchang, 330013 Jiangxi, China. Email: dcclowes@icloud.com
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Abstract

This article explains the causes of the Russia–Ukraine war starting in 2014 from the energy and energy markets perspective, based on resource dependency theory and the conceptual framework outlined by Jeffrey D. Colgan (2013). Our findings reveal that Russia is critically dependent on revenue from gas exports to Ukraine and the European Union, but also that Ukraine’s energy deposits and pipeline system have the potential to be a direct competitive threat to Russia’s energy exports. This paper argues that this was the underlying reason and main causal pathway leading to Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the subsequent war in eastern Ukraine.

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European Review , Volume 30 , Issue 1 , February 2022 , pp. 4 - 23
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© 2020 Academia Europaea

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