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In Sanctions Aftermath, Russia to Turn Toward Asia, BRICS Allies
22 March 2014
(LPAC)—Russia and China will move towards closer economic cooperation with Asia as a result of the West’s sanctions and other anti-Russian actions, according to a Reuters’ analysis. Russia Today also reported March 21 that Russia will look to other members of the BRICS group to which Russia and China belong, such as India and Brazil, for increased trade, energy, and military cooperation. Brazil’s beef and agricultural exports to Russia could be increased to make up for reduced agricultural exports to Russia from Western Europe resulting from sanctions, RT notes. "The worse Russia’s relations are with the West, the closer Russia will want to be to China. If China supports you, no one can say you’re isolated," said Vasily Kashin, a China expert at the Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST) think thank. Reuters sees it likely that the huge natural gas deal between Russia and China that has been under discussion for a number of years will be signed during President Putin’s May trip to Beijing. State-owned Russian gas firm Gazprom hopes to pump 38 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas per year to China beginning in 2018, via the first pipeline between the world’s largest producer of conventional gas to the largest consumer. The EU and Turkey took 182 bcm of gas from Russia last year. This year China overtook Germany as Russia’s biggest buyer of crude oil, thanks to Rosneft, Russia’s biggest oil company, securing deals to boost eastward oil supplies via the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline and another crossing Kazakhstan. Reuters also points out that Igor Sechin, the head of Rosneft, was in Tokyo when he said that "If Europe and the United States isolate Russia, Moscow will look East for new business, energy deals, military contracts and political alliances." Japan, which has supported the West verbally over the Crimea, but has refrained from sanctions, is dependent on Russian gas to replace energy lost from the closing of the Japanese nuclear sector. Sechin also included India, Vietnam, and South Korea on his Asia trip. Russian relations with India are also good, Reuters notes. In a speech earlier this week, Putin took time to thank one other country for its understanding over Ukraine and Crimea, saying India had shown "restraint and objectivity." On March 19, he called Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss the crisis, suggesting there is room for Russia’s ties to flourish with traditionally non-aligned India. Putin’s moves to assert Russian control over Crimea were seen very favorably in the Indian establishment, N. Ram, publisher of The Hindu newspaper, told Reuters. "Russia has legitimate interests," he added. [RON/CRR] |