Polityka energetyczna Turkmenistanu wobec Rosji jako centralny element strategii emancypacji spod wpływów dawnego hegemona .......... 73

TURKMENISTAN’S ENERGY POLICY TOWARDS RUSSIA AS A CENTRAL ELEMENT OF THE EMANCIPATION STRATEGY FROM THE INFLUENCE OF THE FORMER HEGEMONIST

This article attempts to summarize and evaluate Turkmenistan’s energy policy towards Russia. In order to evaluate the energy policy, which in the post-Soviet area is an important part of international relations, the Author uses a realistic paradigm as the most appropriate explanatory approach in this case. The main thesis of the article is that the goal which was throughout the period under consideration the priority for Ashgabat was the diversification of gas exports. This factor played a key role in Turkmenistan’s relations with Russia, which, owing to the infrastructure inherited from the USSR, initially had a monopoly on the purchase and transit of Turkmen fuel. Ashgabat’s further moves were motivated by the desire to change this state of affairs.