| Abstract [eng] |
For a long time, the international space was dominated by the belief that trade with other countries strengthens peaceful coexistence. It turned out that the attitude based on liberal access to international relations was wrong. This paper aims to answer the question why Lithuania and Hungary reacted differently to the weaponization of Russian energy relations and how to explain such differences in positions. A qualitative comparative analysis is performed in the work. Two countries are compared - Lithuania and Hungary. Lithuania and Hungary were the countries most dependent on Russian energy resources in the European Union. After a full military invasion in 2022 in Ukraine, Lithuania chose to diversify the import of energy resources, while Hungary continued its cooperation with Russia. The analysis includes the following independent variables: nature of interdependence, threat perception, and type of political regime. Hypotheses were formulated according to these variables. After the study, conclusions and suggestions were presented. Hungary does not consider Russia as a threat to national security, cooperation with Russia is encouraged by similar political regimes. For these reasons, Hungary decided not to reduce its dependence on Russia. In the case of Lithuania, the opposite happened. High interdependence encouraged Lithuania to seek to reduce it simultaneously due to the aforementioned factors - awareness of the threat posed by authoritarian Russia. This allows us to correct the opinion, which has been established in integration and cooperation studies so far, that intense interdependence is a condition for cooperation between countries. After analyzing Russia's attempts to weaponize it and the different responses of Lithuania and Hungary, it can be said that interdependence not only provides economic benefits and creates incentives for cooperation, but can also become a risk factor. The paper presents proposals for states to diversify the import of energy resources and invest in the renewable energy sector. |
