Energy Sector and Economic Diplomacy in the History of FRG-USSR Economic Relations in the 1970s and early 1980s

West German-Soviet energy relations were an interesting and important aspect of West-East contacts during the Cold War. The Federal Republic of Germany (henceforth FRG) signed several agreements in accordance with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (henceforth USSR) on German energy supply. The relationships between the FRG and the Soviet Bloc became closer especially under the government of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). The so called Osthandel, indeed, was one of the pillars of Brand’s and Schmidt’s Ostpolitik. In my work I focus on the reasons behind the ratification of these treaties. For the economic issues, I analyse the statistical trend of German foreign trade, and, in particular, the German export of industrial goods to the USSR and its import of energy fuels. Moreover, it concentrates on how this trade affected German industrial apparatus and welfare. Regarding the German industrial sector, I briefly analyse the role of Business community in German policy toward the East and how this role changed over the curse of time. Consequently, my attention moves to the diplomatic and political field. Energy agreements were used by the FRG in the détente period on one side as a political pawn for the reunion of West and East Berlin, for the reunification of Germany and on the other side as a no violent weapon to increase German power on the international stage and, furthermore, for Bonn to become more independent from Washington. Indeed, there are also highlighted the US political manoeuvres to keep NATO countries away from Warsaw Pact countries. Moreover, I highlight the energy security issues that were at the basis of Energy deals between Bonn and Moscow, which were linked to the energy crisis, occurred in the 1970s, to German energy domestic demand and to the need of diversification of supply fuels and suppliers too.