The transit dimension of EU energy security:

This book analyses how EU energy security is affected by the structures of the Eurasian gas network and by power relations between states, in particular between Russia and Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova and their national gas companies. It views the Eurasian gas network as the overlap and interaction of four spaces: the regulatory space, the contractual space, the space of flows, and the space of places and asserts that the discontinuities between and within the spaces adversely affect EU gas transit security. The author suggests ways in which these discontinuities can be reduced and how their negative effect can be minimised. The book identifies the threats to security of Russian gas transit across the western CIS, explains why and how unresolved Russia-western CIS bilateral issues led to the appearance of these threats, and determines whether the existing bilateral frameworks are adequate to ensure security of transit across the western CIS. Furthermore it identifies EU energy policy gaps and explains why these gaps reduced the EU's ability to deal with such threats. It shows how transit security threats can be reduced through the joint employment of both bilateral and multilateral frameworks.