The recent earthquake in Japan unleashed a chain of events that shut down five to eight oil refineries and partially melted down three nuclear reactors. As the specter of energy shortages stalks the country, the Kremlin is riding to the rescue.As the scope of the tragedy became clearer over the course of last weekend, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev came to the rescue and pledged to help make up Japan's energy deficit by boosting supplies from nearby Siberia.
"Our moral duty is to help in this situation," stated Medvedev on Monday as he ordered Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin to look into ways of redirecting up to 6,000 megawatts of electrical power to Japan.
Medvedev also arranged for the delivery of an additional 200,000 tons of liquefied natural gas and an unspecified amount of Siberian coal over the next two months.
The Tokyo earthquake and resulting tsunami is forcing Japan to build both political and economic bridges to energy-laden Russia. A strong tri-corner alliance between Tokyo, Moscow and Beijing is about to form.
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