Moscow has used its control over Europe’s energy supplies as a tool of political leverage. The familiar image is crude but effective: if a government dares to defy Russian foreign policy, the gas is turned off in the dead of winter, as happened in Ukraine.
Yet this picture is misleading. The real power of Russia’s “energy weapon” lies not in sudden supply cuts, but in the quiet cultivation of long-term influence. By embedding energy interests deep inside consumer countries, Moscow creates political allies, corrodes democratic institutions, and locks Europe into costly dependence.
Russia’s playbook is broad. Energy is used to build relationships with key elites, while tools of asymmetric influence—political interference, covert financing, and disinformation—serve to reinforce those ties. This is less visible than the drama of a pipeline shutdown, but far more corrosive.
Case studies across Europe reveal a pattern:
- Energy intermediaries, often registered in Switzerland, enrich well-connected elites in consumer countries.
- Russian firms channel political financing to sympathetic parties and politicians.
- Energy projects in gas and nuclear power are steered by political, not economic, imperatives.
The goal is not short-term coercion but structural influence. By weaving energy interests into domestic politics and business networks, Russia creates durable constituencies that defend its role in European markets. These relationships are harder to challenge than a pipeline dispute—and more damaging in the long run, tying states to inefficient suppliers while undermining their democratic resilience.