Title: The Changing Geopolitical Importance of Siberia
Headings: The Changing Geopolitical Importance of Siberia
The Changing Geopolitical Importance of Siberia
Summary
Development of Siberia
Natural Resources and Russian Strategy
Importance of East Asia

Content: These resources, particularly oil and natural gas, are important not only as sources of revenue for the Russian state but also as levers in Russian foreign policy. This is especially true with Europe, where Russia provides roughly a quarter of the energy supply. Natural gas is of particular importance because Russia dominates not only the supply but also the distribution network, especially in Central and Eastern Europe. Russia has an extensive energy distribution and export pipeline network, the latter of which it began to develop in the 1970s during the thaw in Soviet-Western relations. Druzhba is Russia's largest oil pipeline, while major natural gas pipelines include the Yamal-Europe I, Northern Lights, Soyuz and Bratrstvo, all of which carry Russian natural gas to Eastern and Western European markets via Ukraine and/or Belarus. The Nord Stream pipeline, which avoids transit states bothersome to Russia, such as Ukraine, and traverses the Baltic Sea straight to Germany, has recently come online in Western Europe, and Russia is laying the groundwork to begin construction by the end of 2012 on another energy project, South Stream, which will traverse the Black Sea. Many Central and Eastern Europeans are completely dependent on Russia for their natural gas consumption, but even some major players, such as Germany, Italy and Turkey, are quite dependent on Russian natural gas supplies. Russia has used this dependence to its advantage, whether establishing close commercial and political relationships with the likes of Germany and Italy or cutting supplies to gain political concessions as it did in Ukraine in 2006 and 2009, Lithuania in 2006 and Belarus in 2010. These cutoffs are a reminder that Russia's interests must be considered on any strategic issues (for instance, when Ukraine is friendly with the West), while Russia's energy position in Germany, Italy, France and other countries has created an opening for Moscow to be more active in European energy matters — and, by extension, political and security matters. Importance of East Asia
Between 75 and 85 percent of Russia's oil exports currently go to Europe, but exports of Russian oil to East Asia have begun to increase as well.