NO ONE FLIES AEROFLOT:

On May 4, the planned investment by the Chinese company CEFC China Energy into Russian state oil giant Rosneft fell apart, eight months after it was first announced. The tie-up's failure reveals the strict limits on the potential for energy cooperation between China -- which is in the process of taking ownership of CEFC -- and Russia, and with it a broader political alliance between the two countries.

Beijing has come to view Rosneft more as a tool of the Russian state than a traditional oil company, and to the extent the two countries don't share political priorities, China has little interest in any significant economic relationship. Although China is actively searching for new political and economic partners around the world, it seems to have decided the Russian government is too risky a political investment.

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