China, Russia Sign $400B Gas Deal

As relations with the West sputter due to Russia’s hostile takeover of east Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has begun to look east. On Wednesday, he signed a new natural-gas deal valued at roughly $400 billion with China. The deal, which begins in 2018 and will last 30 years, lessens Moscow's potential economic isolation, experts say. It was announced during a two-day visit by Putin to China. Both parties also reached deals to build the first railway bridge over the border of the two countries and to let Chinese cars be manufactured in Russia.