Strategic Concerns for the EU and U.S.

Posted: December 6th, 2016

By David Koranyi

David Koranyi is the director of the Eurasian Energy Futures Initiative at the Atlantic Council. He has been a nonresident fellow at the Johns Hopkins University SAIS Center for Transatlantic Relations since 2010. Koranyi served as undersecretary of state and chief foreign policy and national security advisor to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Hungary, Gordon Bajnai (2009-2010). He worked in the European Parliament as chief foreign policy adviser and head of cabinet of a Hungarian MEP (2004-2009). Previously, he was a political adviser at the Hungarian National Assembly and a junior researcher at GKI Economic Research Institute, in Budapest, Hungary. Koranyi is a member of the European Council on Foreign Relations, the Pacific Council, the Hungarian Europe Society, and a Concordia Advisor. He obtained his master's degree in international relations and economics, with a major in foreign affairs from Budapest Corvinus University.

Russia can influence politics in Central and Eastern Europe via the energy sector. Most of the Visegrad Group countries in Central Europe, for example, are dependent on Russia for natural gas. Some of those countries – like Hungary – recently attempted to diversify supply, only to pivot back toward Russia after pro-Russian leaders took over government positions. To get a sense of just how much influence Russia has in this region, The Cipher Brief spoke with David Koranyi, director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasian Energy Futures Initiative and former chief foreign policy and national security advisor to Hungarian Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai.

The Cipher Brief: How much influence does Russia have in the Visegrad Group countries – Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia – vis-à-vis energy?

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