As NATO kicks off its Washington Summit, the European Initiative for Energy Security (EIES) publishes a report looking at how Russia has evolved its decades-long strategy of weaponizing energy against the European continent from a broad geopolitical instrument into actual physical attacks.

In this publication, Ambassador Andris Piebalgs, Dr. Benjamin Schmitt, and Dr. Frank Umbach, experts on energy and infrastructure security from Latvia, the United States and Germany (biographies below), examine Russian strategies and actions in Europe to date and discuss ways Europe and the U.S., as nations and in multinational organizations like NATO and the EU, can harden their energy infrastructure, build in resilience, and devalue, dissuade and if necessary, defeat the Russian threat.

Andris Piebalgs - “The comprehensive destruction of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure reveals Russia’s evolving strategy. Europe must learn from these events, the damage already inflicted on its energy infrastructure, and the political mistakes that led to the major energy crisis of the last two years.”

Benjamin Schmitt – “Transatlantic leaders must remain firm that there can be no return to ‘energy business as usual’ with Putin’s Kremlin ever again.”

Frank Umbach – “The collective resilience of our critical infrastructure is only as strong as the weakest link of the chain, and the EU and NATO should further deepen their security and defense cooperation to enhance the resilience of the infrastructure of their member nations.”

Key recommendations include the following:

• While cyber protection must remain a priority and evolve to match the threat, policies and technical solutions that protect critical infrastructure from physical attacks and sabotage have become essential.

• Resilience capabilities should be adequately financed, installed and integrated “by design” in critical infrastructure by public and private actors.

• Russia’s targeting of Ukrainian infrastructure emphasizes the importance of diversified energy infrastructure, interconnectivity, flexibility resources, distributed generation, and a secure and steady supply of replacement parts and repair materials such as power cables, transformers, and generators.

• NATO and the EU should increase their support for the protection of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure through further investments in active air defense, counter-drone, and passive defense systems.

• Communication and cooperation between the EU, NATO and industry is essential. EU and NATO members must develop effective crisis mechanisms, with clearly defined responsibilities for operators of critical infrastructure and national and regional administrations, and effective points of contact for NATO and EU institutions.

• Sanctions and technology export controls enforcement aimed at Russia’s energy sector must be sustained, as they can have a direct impact on supporting Ukraine on the battlefield.

Biographies

Ambassador Andris Piebalgs is a Professor at the European University Institute and a member of EIES’ Energy Security Leadership Council. Piebalgs is a former EU Commissioner for Energy and EU Commissioner for Development and was instrumental in the creation of the European energy market. As Latvia’s Ambassador to the EU, he played an important role in Latvia’s EU accession.

Dr. Benjamin L. Schmitt is a Senior Fellow at the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania, a Senior Fellow for Democratic Resilience at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), an associate of the Harvard-Ukrainian Research Institute, a fellow of the Duke University “Rethinking Diplomacy” Program, and a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Dr. Frank Umbach - Dr. phil. Frank Umbach is Head of Research of the European Cluster for Climate, Energy and Re-source Security (EUCERS) at the Center for Advanced Security, Strategic and Integration Studies (CASSIS), University of Bonn, Germany. He is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Bonn, Adjunct Senior Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) at the Nanyan Technological University (NTU) in Singapore.

About EIES

The European Initiative for Energy Security (EIES) advocates for secure pan-European and national energy policies, dedicated to fostering collaboration between government and industry leaders. EIES seeks to address critical energy challenges and champion comprehensive solutions for the benefit of Europe's energy security, transition, and industrial competitiveness. EIES works with the Energy Security Leadership Council-Europe (ESLC-Europe), composed of retired and active military, political and business figures, to achieve these goals.

Contact: Isabelle Dupraz, EIES Deputy Director – idupraz@secureenergy.org