Since the start of the Ukraine crisis in early 2014, the states of East Central Europe have become increasingly important targets of Russian economic, political and military pressure. Russia finds itself in the trajectory of geopolitical retreat on the Western “front”, and seeks to slow down this process by mobilizing every economic, political and military asset in East Central Europe, where various weak points in the European and Atlantic unity exist—and are typically overestimated by Moscow.

Water scarcity in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states has traditionally been addressed by finding new ways of producing water. The high costs of desalinated water production are borne by the State through subsidies. As this trend is not environmentally or economically sustainable, new strategies are now giving priority to cost recovery and efficient resource management.

This brief paper analyzes the energy relations between Russia and its “new” energy partnerships – with China and Turkey – that the Kremlin tends to publicly promote as an alternative to energy relations with the West.