Russia, Algeria: The Deals Behind Seemingly Strange Bedfellows

Russian President Vladimir Putin took a delegation of defense and energy representatives to Algeria with him March 10. The Russian delegation was able to strike a number of defense and energy agreements, including a deal between Gazprom and Algeria's state-owned energy company Sonatrach, which is one of the pioneers in liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal development. Though Algeria's dependence on the European energy market makes it a less-than-ideal partner, Russia is moving to find a non-Western source for the technology needed to begin building its own LNG facilities.