Business Standard: In the Russia-China gas deal, did Putin win?

So in striking a big new deal to supply natural gas to China, has Vladimir Putin outmaneuvered the US and its European friends yet again? Much as Russia's president would like you to think so, not really.

Putin called Wednesday's accord an "epochal event." The governments' joint statement contained thinly veiled criticism of US and European Union actions over Ukraine, inviting the world to view the deal in the context of that dispute. The timing is certainly no accident, and a closer relationship between Russia and China is hardly a matter of indifference to the rest of the world.

At the same time, this agreement to supply China with gas has been in the works for 10 years, and a deal had been widely expected this year. The two countries had been haggling mainly over price. The terms announced this week don't make the true price of the gas (including how much each will spend on the necessary pipeline infrastructure) explicit, but it appears that China will pay a bit less than Europe pays for Russian gas. If so, both sides have moved from their earlier positions in closing the deal.
MORE