Current Tendencies of Russian-Italian Relations Development in Energy Sphere

This research examines the current relations between Russia and Italy in the energy sector. Today, the energy policy of the European Union is undergoing extensive processes of liberalization of the energy markets in order to ensure the country's energy security, efficient energy use and the development of alternative energy sources. For several decades, Russia is the main strategic partner of Italy in the field of energy. An extremely important factor in the energy cooperation is complementarity and interdependence of the two economies. This paper work is an attempt to determine the degree of country's interdependence and future prospects of cooperation development. The theoretical part of this research shows the role of the energy sector in the world economy and possible scenarios of its development. Then there is an overview of energy consumption in Italy, and the Russian-Italian energy cooperation. The practical part contains an analysis of the main trends of development in the energy sector of the Russian-Italian relations under the influence of EU economic sanctions against Russia. It shows the evolution of EU legislation in this field and on the basis of the analysis to make predictions about the effects of the new energy policy of Italy for Russia in the new international political conditions.