No other scholar has the depth of knowledge of the economics, politics, and social issues surrounding post-Soviet energy that Margarita Balmaceda does. The amount and variety of evidence she brings together makes this manuscript a tour de force.

William Reisinger, author of Energy and the Soviet Bloc: Alliance Politics After Stalin

Russian Energy Chains is a magnificent achievement. Balmaceda breaks free of the conventional oil-focused narratives about resource dependence by looking beyond the power of central states to control supply and showing instead the complex interaction of opportunity and dependence all along the value chain from producer to consumer. There is nothing like it in the field—a must-read.

Thane Gustafson, author of The Bridge: Natural Gas in a Redivided Europe

An impressive book that provides deep insights into the value chain and the power and market structures behind it. Balmaceda has written a highly scientific book, but it is also a fascinating travelogue that follows the molecule from its Russian source to the end consumer in Europe. I wish the book many readers!

Kirsten Westphal, coeditor of The Political and Economic Challenges of Energy in the Middle East and North Africa

Russian Energy Chains glitters with fresh insight into the scores of links that bind molecular structure to international relations. With this book, Balmaceda reaffirms her place among the most creative scholars working on energy and politics today.

Douglas Rogers, author of The Depths of Russia: Oil, Power, and Culture After Socialism

Balmaceda’s tour-de-force analysis of energy sector “value chains” illustrates the weaponization of fossil fuels and how the regimes of consuming countries are tempted into corruption and dependence. Only this kind of geopolitical travelogue of energy sources can reveal this level of complexity and nuance.

Catherine Wanner, editor of State Secularism and Lived Religion in Soviet Russia and Ukraine