The “great game” for access to Caspian resources
has led to a healthy diversification of export arteries for
which there is an objective need. It has helped the new
independent states of the region find traction in their
dealings with the great powers who have become rivals
for regional influence. The rivalry is still underway
nonetheless. In the Caspian region, in the words of
Régis Genté, oil and natural gas “also represent the
means by which a struggle to control the center of
the Eurasian continent is waged.”29
Russian Security Strategy under Vladimir Putin: Russian and American Perspectives
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