The main document defining the Energy policy of Russia is the Energy Strategy, which sets out policy for the period up to 2020. Energy policy is the stated and unstated government legislated use of energy.
Russia, one of the world's energy superpowers, is rich in natural energy resources, the world's leading net energy exporter, and a major supplier to the European Union.

Overview
The main objective of Russian energy strategy is defined to be determination of the ways of reaching a new quality of fuel and energy complex, the growth of competitive ability of its production and services on the world market. For this purpose the long-term energy policy should concentrate on energy safety, energy effectiveness, budget effectiveness and ecological energy security.
The energy strategy document defines as the main priority of Russian energy strategy an increase in energy efficiency (meaning decreasing of energy intensity in production and energy supply expenditures), reducing the impact on environment, sustainable development, energy development and technological development, as well as an improvement of effectiveness and competitiveness.

Objectives
Russia is rich on energy resources. Russia has the largest known natural gas reserves of any state on earth, along with the second largest coal reserves, and the eighth largest oil reserves. This is 32% of the world proven natural gas reserves (23% of the probable reserves), 12% of the proven oil reserves (42% of the probable reserves), 10% of the explored coal reserves (14% of the estimated reserves) and 8% of the proven uranium reserves.

Primary energy sources
In recent years Russia has identified the gas sector as being of key strategic importance. The share of natural gas as a primary energy source is remarkably high compared to the rest of world. Russia has the world biggest natural gas reserves, mainly owned and operated by the Russian monopoly Gazprom, which produces 94% of Russia's natural gas production. In global context Gazprom holds 25% of the world's known gas reserves and produces of 16% of global output.), and also Ukraine, Italy, Turkey, France and Hungary.

Natural gas

Main article: Oil industry of Russia Oil
Russia is the world's leader by 375 billion tonnes of geologic reserves, of which more than 250 billion tonnes are economically recoverable (including 140 billion tonnes of lignite).

Coal

Non-conventional oil
Russia owns the biggest oil shale reserves in Europe equal to 35.47 billion tonnes of shale oil. More than 80 oil shale deposits have been identified. Main deposits are located in the Volga-Petchyorsk province and the Baltic Basin. Extraction of the deposits in the Volga-Petchyorsk province began in the 1930s, but was abandoned due the environmental problems. Main oil shale industry was concentrated on the Baltic Basin in Slantsy, but at the end of 1990s the Slantsy oil shale processing plant and oil shale-fired power station were converted to use traditional hydrocarbons, and the mining activities were stopped at the beginning of 2000s. In Syzran a small processing plant continues to operate.

Oil shale
Small amount of extra-heavy oil reserves have been identified in the Volga-Urals and North Caucasus-Mangyshlak basins. Large deposits of natural bitumen are located in Eastern Siberia in the Lena-Tunguska basin. Other bitumen deposits are located in the Timan-Pechora and Volga-Urals Basins, and in Tatarstan. It is unlikely that natural bitumen deposits will be exploited in the near future.

Natural bitumen and extra-heavy oil
Uranium exploration and development activities have been largely concentrated on three east-of-Urals uranium districts (Transural, West Siberia and Vitim). The most important uranium producing area has been the Streltsovsky region near Krasnokamensk in the Chitinskaya Oblast. The Russian Federation was the world's fourth largest producer of uranium in 2002, accounting for 7.9% of global output.

Uranium
Russia is the world fourth largest electricity producer after the USA, China, and Japan. In 2004, Russia produced 930 TWh and exported 20 TWh of electricity.

Electricity production
The Russia's gross theoretical potential of hydro resource base is 2,295 TWh/yr, of which 852 TWh is regarded as economically feasible. Most of this potential is located in Siberia and the Far East.

Hydropower

Main article: Nuclear power in Russia Nuclear energy
Renewable energy in Russia is largely undeveloped although Russia has potential in renewable energy resources.

Renewable energy
The principal peat areas are located in the north-western parts of Russia, in West Siberia, near the western coast of Kamchatka and in several other far-eastern regions. The Siberian peatlands account for nearly 75% of Russia's total reserves of 186 billion tonnes, second biggest in the world to Canada's. Approximately 5% of the exploitable peat deposits (2.5 million tonnes per annum) are used for fuel production. Although peat was used as industrial fuel for power generation in Russia for long period, its share has been in long-term decline, and since 1980 has amounted to less than 1%.

Peat
It has been estimated that the Russia's gross potential for solar energy is 2.3 trillion tce. The regions with the best solar radiation potential are the North Caucasus, the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea areas, and the southern parts of Siberia and the Far East. This potential is mainly not used, although the possibilities for off-grid solar energy or hybrid applications in remote areas are huge.

Solar energy
Geothermal energy, which is in use for heating and electricity production in some regions of the Northern Caucasus and the Far East, is the most developed renewable energy source in Russia.

Geothermal energy
Russia has high wind resource with the highest potential areas at the coastal areas of the Pacific and Arctic Oceans, and the vast steppe and the mountain areas. Large-scale wind energy systems can be applied in in Siberia and the Far East (east of Sakhalin Island, the south of Kamchatka, the Chukotka Peninsula, Vladivostok), the steppes along the Volga river, the northern Caucasus steppes and mountains, and the Kola Peninsula, where the resource is favourable and power infrastructure and major industrial consumers in place. Offshore wind farms could be considered in the Magadan Oblast and in the Kola Peninsula where the intermittent wind power could be compensated by existing hydroelectric power stations.

Wind energy
A small pilot tidal power plant with a capacity of 400 kW was constructed at Kislaya Guba near Murmansk in 1968. It followed by tidal power stations at Lumbov (67 MW) and Mezen Bay (15 000 MW) in the White Sea, and Penzhinskaya Bay (87 400 MW) and Tugur Bay (6 800 MW) in the Sea of Okhotsk. Only the Tugur Bay station emerged as feasible.

Tidal energy
Vladimir Putin approved the Kyoto Protocol on November 4, 2004 and Russia officially notified the United Nations of its ratification on November 18, 2004. The issue of Russian ratification was particularly closely watched in the international community, as the accord was brought into force 90 days after Russian ratification (February 16, 2005).
President Putin had earlier decided in favour of the protocol in September 2004, along with the Russian cabinet,

Climate change
In terms of the Russian energy demand structure, domestic production exceeds largely domestic demand, making Russia the world's leading net energy exporter.

Energy usage
Russia's energy superpower status has recently become a hot topic in the European Union.

Energy in foreign policy
Russia has recently been accused in the West (i.e. Europe and the United States) of using its natural resources as a policy tool to be wielded against offending states like Georgia, the Ukraine, and other states it perceives as hindrances to its power. According to one estimate, since 1991 there were more than 55 energy incidents, of which more than 30 had political underpinnings. Only 11 incidents had no political connections.
Russia, in turn, accuses the West of applying double-standards relating to market principles, pointing out that it has been supplying gas to the states in question at prices that were significantly below world market levels, and in some cases remain so even after the increases. Russia argues that it is not obligated to effectively subsidize the economies of post-Soviet states by offering them resources at below-market prices.

Energy disputes
Starting 1 January 2007 Gazprom increased the price of natural gas for Azerbaijan to 235 USD per thousand cubic metres. Azerbaijan refused to pay this price and the gas export to Azerbaijan stopped. On its side, Azerbaijan stopped oil export to and via Russia.

Azerbaijan and Armenia

Main article: Russia-Belarus energy dispute Belarus
See also: Georgian-Russian relations
In the January 2006 alleged North Ossetia sabotage, two simultaneous explosions occurred on the main branch and a reserve branch of the Mozdok-Tbilisi pipeline in the Russian border region of North Ossetia. The electricity transmission line in Russia's southern region of Karachayevo-Cherkessiya near the Georgian border was brought down by an explosion just hours later. Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili blamed Russia for putting pressure on Georgia's energy system at the time of the coldest weather. Starting 1 January 2007 Gazprom increased natural gas prices to Georgia following an international incident in an alleged effort to strongly influence the Georgian leadership's defiance of Moscow. The current price is 235 USD per thousand cubic metre, which is the highest among the CIS countries.

Lithuania

Main article: Russia-Ukraine gas dispute Ukraine
The EU-Russia Energy Dialogue was launched at the EU-Russia Summit in Paris in October 2000. At the working level the Energy Dialogue consists three thematic working groups. The Energy Dialogue involves the EU Member States, energy industry and the international financial institutions.

Ratification of the Energy Charter Treaty

Economy of Russia
Energy policy

• Energy policy of the European Union
  Energy superpower