News Analysis While the United States continues to prepare a robust sanctions regime in the event of a Russian invasion of Eastern Ukraine, Moscow announced on Feb. 2 that gas agreements will be a central focus of the upcoming meeting between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin. This strategic move reaffirms the Sino-Russian relationship two-fold: it demonstrates the rapidly expanding bilateral trade relationship between the two countries, especially in energy; and it also signals to Washington that its attempts to economically isolate countries it doesn’t agree with can be overcome. “Energy supplies to China have reached record highs,” said Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov. He went on to reference the Chinese gas market as one of “the most promising and dynamically developing” markets in the world. It’s no random coincidence that the Kremlin would choose this moment of heightened international tensions in Eastern Europe to publicly tout its growing …