Western sanctions could propel Russia’s own pivot to Asia

If Western sanctions do toughen, experts say, Russia is likely simply to speed efforts to pivot its industrial and energy focus toward customers in Asia, such as China, who tend to be far less critical of Moscow on human rights and geopolitical issues than those in the West.

“Our Asian energy markets are already expanding nicely,” says Grigory Birg, an analyst with Investcafe, a Moscow investment consultancy. “Both Gazprom and Transneft are building new pipelines to China, and there is talk of extending our network of gas pipelines all the way to South Korea. This is where the big future markets for Russia are in any case.”