China Rejects Russia’s Eastern Pipeline Plan

China has put an abrupt stop to a Russian proposal to export added volumes of natural gas eastward via Kazakhstan, deepening the financial woes of the erstwhile Russian energy behemoth, Gazprom. The Russian state-controlled entity, once a critical foreign policy instrument of the Kremlin, has been forced to abandon projects in Central Asia and Latin America recently due to a lack of fiscal muscle. Gazprom has been urgently looking east to add export volume after the dramatic loss of market share in Europe. One idea promoted by Gazprom representatives…