Russian-Algerian Relations: Partners or Competitors?

Speaking at a recent Kennan Institute talk, Mark N. Katz, professor of government and politics, George Mason University, and former Title VIII-Supported Research Scholar, Kennan Institute, discussed the economic and political relations between the Russian Federation and Algeria. Both countries export large amounts of natural gas to Europe, and this has led to some speculation that they may attempt to coordinate gas supplies to their own advantage in the future, Katz said. However, according to Katz, there are limits to any cooperation between Russia and Algeria, because the two countries are more likely to act as competitors than as a cartel.

In the 1970s and 1980s relations between Algeria and the Soviet Union were good, Katz noted. Although relations fell off in the 1990s due to Russia's economic crisis, recently the relationship has improved. The Russian Federation has concluded several arms deals with Algeria, and in March 2006 Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Algiers to negotiate the settlement of Soviet-era debt, Katz said. The Russian Federation agreed to forgive the debt in return for an agreement by Algeria to purchase a certain amount of industrial goods from Russia. He noted that cooperation between the countries deepened in August 2006 with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Gazprom and Sonatrach, the Russian and Algerian natural gas companies, respectively. In accordance with this agreement, Gazprom will help Algeria to develop its natural gas reserves.

Although Katz noted that European fears of collaboration between Russia and Algeria are understandable, he said the prospects for this are low. In the long run, Europe will diversify its natural gas supplies, and reliability will be the most important consideration in choosing natural gas suppliers, Katz predicted. Since overcoming some initial interruptions in supplies after it gained independence in the 1960s, Algeria has been a stable supplier to Europe, according to Katz. Russia, on the other hand, only began exporting natural gas in the 1980s when it was the Soviet Union, he said, and it has recently been accused of using natural gas as a political weapon in disputes with both Ukraine and Belarus.

In the future, Russia and Algeria will compete with one another to supply natural gas to the European market, Katz said. Although they will maintain a fairly cordial political relationship, they are not friends either, he concluded.