Unravelling Energy Relations between Russia and Germany : The impact of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine since 2000 on German discourse

Sammanfattning: The invasion of Ukraine by Russia in February 2022 has greatly impacted the political environment, especially, around energy and gas imports from Russia. As a country previously highly dependent on Russian gas and the Nord Stream 2 project underway, Germany’s position is particularly interesting. While there is literature on the topic, it lacks the utilization of discourse analysis. To identify discursive changes in the use of language in the German government, official government speeches or statements from the early 2000s and after the Ukraine crisis in 2014 are being analysed. The happenings of 2014 are considered to be the first significant event in the energy relation between Germany and Russia. Both stylistic devices and narratives are being considered in the analysis. The findings show a lack of application of stylistic devices throughout the selected material, wherefore no discursive differentiation can be found. However, general narrative changes can be identified throughout the material and defined time periods, starting with optimism towards economic cooperation with Russia. After the Ukraine crisis, the narrative shifted to a more apprehensive one, while still advocating for the energy imports from Russia. With Russia no longer being a reliable supplier from 2022 on, the narrative finally shifts to negative. In the later material concrete approaches to diversification are also discussed contributing to a narrative that moves away from Russia as a single energy source.