Are the EU Energy Sanctions against Russia Rational?

The article examines the rationality of the European Union's anti-Russian energy sanctions imposed after the start of Russia's Special Military Operation. Methodologically, the research relies on system, historical and comparative analysis, as well as discourse analysis. It is also based on the fundamental concepts of the theory of international relations. The irrationality of the EU is seen in the fact that, due to harsh energy sanctions, it has not only failed to influence Moscow's policy, but has also caused significant damage to its own economy and the welfare of its citizens. However, the article concludes that the affordability of energy supply is only one side of the energy trilemma. By refusing to import relatively cheap Russian fossil fuels, the EU may act quite rationally, since it prioritized safe and at the same time sustainable energy supply, including with an eye to a fundamental transformation of its economic model in the coming decades. As for realism and liberalism, the EU's anti-Russian energy sanctions may also seem rational. In the first case, the EU, by imposing energy sanctions against Russia, could keep a geopolitical rivalry and the competition for a new world order in mind. In the second case, it could sacrifice mutually beneficial energy cooperation for the sake of its liberal ideals. The main conclusion is that it is more correct not to associate the EU’s energy sanctions imposed on Russia only with irrationality, but also to try to see a different rationality in them.

European Union, EU, Russia, sanctions, energy, oil, gas, rationality