According to this article: Link Gazprom buys bankrupt Kirgiz national gas supplier for one dollar. Takes on its debt, and obligates itself to procure oil for Kirgiz consumers at existing rates set by the Kirgiz government. Does so even though there is no pipeline connecting its gas fields and Kirgizia. Instead it will have to buy gas in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. What is more gas consumers in Kirgizia are notoriously slow to pay. I can't say that I see how can this possibly be of benefit to the Russian masses whom I think the riches of Gazprom should presumably benefit (these being derived from their natural resources). Also it doesn't seem as if this is going to buy Russia much goodwill in Kirgizia, because what happens when the consumers do not pay? Gazprom stops the deliveries and reaps the ire of the Kirgiz for it, possibly making Russia less popular rather than more so. Sounds like buying a headache.
Gaxprom is responsible to its shareholders rather than the masses but this still seems strange. It's hardly as if Kirgizia is a prime pipeline route to China.
