Since the outbreak of the crisis in Ukraine, Moscow has been under Western economic sanctions and Russia has sharply reduced fuel shipments to Europe and turned to Asia. to compensate for this, Russian President Vladimir Putin officially launched the exploitation of the huge kovykta gas field in Siberia, which allows increasing exports to China

"We are launching the kovykta field, which is the largest in eastern Siberia, start working," Putin said during a televised ceremony, stressing that this step will give a real development boost in the eastern regions of Russia.

The kovykta field will promote the transportation of Russian gas through the "power of Siberia" gas pipeline feeding China.

The operation of this site will make it possible to "reliably ensure the delivery of gas to both Russian companies and our foreign partners,"Putin added.

For his part, Alexey Miller, director of the Russian giant Gazprom, said that this gas field provides "new opportunities for economic and social development and new opportunities for our growing exports".

The kovykta field located near Lake Baikal in Siberia is supposed to be fed by the gas pipeline "power of Siberia 1", which since the end of 2019 connects the chachandina field, "Yakutia" with Northeast China.

Russia has been trying for several years to increase its gas supplies to the large energy-consuming Chinese economy, and this movement has accelerated in recent months.

The Russian authorities want to increase their shipments to twenty billion cubic meters of gas every year, especially by taking advantage of the reserves of the kovykta field.

It also plans to build the "Siberia 2" gas pipeline starting in 2024 to supply China through Mongolia, in further evidence that Russia's energy strategy has actually turned to the East.