Caspian Report - Issue 06 - Winter 2014

other than the US and Saudi Arabia,”
says Sergei Markov, a frequent foreign
policy adviser to President Vladimir
Putin. I hope the first issue, for
Russian vital interests in the region,
is to regain its strategic importance.
Especially, in the energy and military
sectors, Russia has shown a renewed
interest in the Mediterranean Region
and also stepped up its efforts
to establish closer relations with the
countries on the southern shores of
the Mediterranean Sea. Even though
the traditional East and West antagonism
was primarily ideological and
military in nature today, it will challenge
the oil and gas relations in the
Mediterranean region in the near
future. In the framework of the New
National Security Strategy of the Russian
Federation, Russia’s natural resources
are of crucial importance not
only for Russia’s renewed influence
on the global stage, but also as a potential
source of discord and even of
military conflict between countries.
Putin at the UN Security Council, in an
opening address to a Security Council
PUTIN ADMINISTRATION IS PLANNING TO DEPLOY
ITS WARSHIPS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA ON A
PERMANENT BASIS.
session on international energy security,
emphasized that ‘energy is, at
least today, the most important motive
for world economic progress. The
present and future prosperity of Russia
depends directly on the place we
occupy in the global energy context’.
Russia, with Gazprom, tries to initiate
joint projects after the signing of the
MoU, which reportedly was left to expire
by inaction on the Algerian side.
For the EU, Algeria is currently the
most important non-Russian lifeline
for its natural gas supplies. Signing of
a possible collusion between Algeria
and Russia will frighten EU countries,
whereas stronger EU-Algerian energy
cooperation will cut into Russia’s main
gas export market.
The attractiveness of Libya’s oil resources
are seen particularly in the
low cost of oil extraction, the high
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CASPIAN REPORT, WINTER 2014
President of Russia
Vladimir Putin.