ABSTRACT
Energy trade and investments have been a key pillar of EU-Russia relations for decades. Contacts originated in the 1970s in the form of gas and oil trade between the Soviet Union and various European Community Member States. This chapter presents a theoretical framework for structural, substantial and visionary conditions the institutional evolution of EU-Russia energy relations before March 2014 is reviewed, stressing the diversification and multiplication of EU-Russia formal institutions in energy cooperation. The chapter examines changes, which have occurred since early 2014 when the EU first introduced restrictive measures against Russia. These changes are described as institutional primitivisation because they made EU-Russia energy institutions thinner and stripped them of most of their influence. The conclusion underlines that consequences of these changes will be long-term and difficult to overcome. The EU measures affect only future contracts. Existing contracts between EU companies and Russia should be honoured, but require licences.
