The West Siberian Pipeline Crisis

The 1980s West Siberian pipeline crisis was a major Cold War geopolitical dispute between the United States and its European allies over the construction of a pipeline to supply gas from Siberia to Western Europe, dubbed the largest commercial transaction in history between East and West . The US feared the pipeline would increase European dependency on Soviet energy and provide revenue to help prop up Moscow s military power, whilst the West European allies saw it as a way to diversify energy sources away from the Middle East. The US imposed economic measures, attempting to prevent European companies from taking part in the construction, leading to a major transatlantic row.

This volume examines this complex and multifaceted crisis from international and domestic angles. The contributors provide fresh perspectives from each of the key national actors Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the US and USSR as well as from NATO. It highlights the differing perceptions that the US Administration and West European governments had of Soviet capabilities and vulnerabilities, and their deep-seated differences over Cold War strategy. It shows how US Cold War policy was at odds with Western Europe s search for energy security after the 1973 and 1979 oil crises, and how the dispute exposed the limits of US hegemony and the shifting balance of power between the US and European allies within the Alliance.

Making use of recently released archival sources, this collection explores new dimensions of the crisis, making it an important read for scholars of diplomatic history, Cold War history, and international relations.