Russia's International Images and its Energy Policy. An Unreliable Supplier?

Abstract

In recent years, the Russian authorities have invested significant effort into promoting a positive image of Russia as an energy supplier. Yet, Russia's behaviour sometimes seems to contradict the declared aim of improving this image. A particularly interesting case is the way the Russian authorities and Gazprom handled the dispute with Ukraine over gas prices in December 2008–January 2009, when the transit of Russian gas to a number of EU member states via Ukraine was seriously affected. This essay argues that in order to understand Russia's position during the crisis, one should take into account the impact of international images on Russian politics, in particular self-images and constructed images that the Russian authorities have been projecting in the West and in Russia itself.

Notes

One should note that in recent years some scholars have also advocated the use of a new term—‘smart power’—which has been defined as ‘the capacity of an actor to combine elements of hard power and soft power in ways that are mutually reinforcing such that the actor's purposes are advanced effectively and efficiently’ (Wilson 2008, p. 115).

Vremya novostei, 28 May 2008, p. 4.

The Times, 30 December 2005.

See, e.g. the reaction of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (US Department of State 2006).

Anonymous interview with a former high-ranking British diplomat, London, 14 December 2006.

Anonymous interviews with former high-ranking British diplomats, London, 12–14 December 2006.

Anonymous interview with a senior Russian PR practitioner, Moscow, 30 January 2007.

House of Commons Hansard, 16 September 2003, Column 753.

Anonymous interviews, London, 12–14 December 2006; Brussels, 5–7 June 2007; Berlin, 15–17 July 2007.

The Soviet Union spent enormous sums of money on its foreign propaganda and thus could afford to have a sophisticated propaganda machine with a wide network of various organisations (Clive 1988).

Anonymous interview with a senior Russian propagandist, Moscow, 30 January 2007.

Rossiiskaya gazeta, 23 June 2007.

Financial Times, 30 April 2006.

Vremya novostei, 20 August 2007.

Gazprom Germania, no date, ‘Gazprom Concludes Main Sponsor Contract with Schalke 04’, available at: http://www.gazprom-germania.de/english/sponsoring/schalke04.php, accessed 10 July 2007.

‘Transcript of Meeting with Participants in the Third Meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club’, 9 September 2006, available at: http://www.kremlin.ru/eng/speeches/2006/09/09/1209_type82917type84779_111165.shtml, accessed 3 May 2009.

‘Transcript of Meeting with Participants in the Third Meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club’, 9 September 2006, available at: http://www.kremlin.ru/eng/speeches/2006/09/09/1209_type82917type84779_111165.shtml, accessed 3 May 2009.

‘Transcript of Meeting with Participants in the Third Meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club’, 9 September 2006, available at: http://www.kremlin.ru/eng/speeches/2006/09/09/1209_type82917type84779_111165.shtml, accessed 3 May 2009.

For a detailed discussion of the actions of both Russia and Ukraine, see Pirani et al. (2009).

See http://www.gazpromukrainefacts.com/, accessed 8 December 2011.

‘Predsedatel’ Pravitel'stva Rossiiskoi Federatsii V.V. Putin provel vstrechu s predstavitelyami inostrannykh SMI’, 8 January 2009, official webpage of the Government of the Russian Federation, available at: http://www.government.ru/content/governmentactivity/mainnews/archive/2009/01/08/8560908.htm, accessed 25 April 2009.

Forbes, 6 January 2009.

‘Predsedatel’ Pravitel'stva Rossiiskoi Federatsii V.V. Putin provel vstrechu s predstavitelyami inostrannykh SMI’, 8 January 2009, official webpage of the Government of the Russian Federation, available at: http://www.government.ru/content/governmentactivity/mainnews/archive/2009/01/08/8560908.htm, accessed 25 April 2009.

See, for example, The Daily Telegraph, 23 May 2007; The Guardian, 11 June 2007; The Sunday Times, 30 April 2006.

‘Interview of Dmitry Medvedev with BBC Television’, 26 August 2008, available at: http://www.kremlin.ru/eng/text/speeches/2008/08/26/2131_type82915type82916_205790.shtml, accessed 17 August 2009.