Analyzing the European Union - Russian Federation natural gas trade within the framework of the concept of interdependence

The main objective of this thesis is to analyze the evolution of the liberal energy relations between the EU and Russia, which began after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the dependency situation in the natural gas trade in line with the interdependence model of neoliberal theory. In this context, the findings of this thesis are as follows: The EU-Russia natural gas trade and subsequent energy relations, which started in the 1990s, have enabled the development of peaceful relations between the parties and prevented the use of military force to resolve disputes, as suggested by the Interdependence model proposed by Robert Keohane and Joseph Nye. In 2014 and 2022, Russia's military intervention in Ukraine did not invalidate the arguments of the Interdependence model in terms of explaining the relations between the parties, but rather resulted from the asymmetric development of the interdependence relationship between the parties in favor of Russia in terms of natural gas trade.