DOWN a bumpy two-lane road through the hills north-west of Vladivostok, the Pogranichny border crossing is where Russia meets China. Bilateral relations are blossoming, and trade should be booming. Yet lorries loaded with timber idle on the roadside, as obstructive bureaucrats keep them waiting for days. On a recent visit, the electricity was out; candles flickered in the truck stop’s lavatories. “Nothing new here,” said a shopkeeper.
Over the past two years, as its relations with the West have soured, Russia has proclaimed a “pivot to the East”. Officials envisioned China replacing Western capital markets and hoovering up Russian exports of oil, minerals and food. Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, the countries’ presidents, visited each other’s capitals for ceremonies commemorating the end of the second world war; Western leaders stayed away. Big deals in energy, transport and arms seemed to augur a new friendship. In September Mr Putin declared that Sino-Russian relations had “probably reached a peak in their entire history”.
That was the official story, at least. “The turn to the east is happening, but in a characteristically Russian…
