ABSTRACT
This chapter shows the role of the South Caucasus and Central Asia in providing Russian industry with raw materials is not crucial, and the market for Russian manufacturing industries in these regions comprises no more than 5 percent of total Russian exports. Traditionally, national economic security is measured by the degree of a country's dependence on critical imports, mainly raw materials, energy, and foodstuffs; by the vulnerability of its communications with the outer world. In present-day Russia, a number of new dimensions of economic security are also crucial, especially the repercussions of the disintegration of the Soviet empire. The degree of Russia's economic dependence on the Southern Tier and of its interests in those areas is of crucial political importance. The separation of the Russian and the Southern Tier economies continues, even though they so recently formed a single economic system. The other source of tension and potential conflict related to the transportation of Caspian oil is the Bosporus bottleneck.
