'There is no overarching geopolitical plan' - I am not sure about that, but there is no question about the second half 'but a lot of political infighting and short term asset-grabbing strategies.'

We tend to leave China out of these discussions, which makes sense. But I remain quite convinced that the Russians will do their best to ensure that China remains a weak competitor - after all, Siberia is essentially the last major empty inhabitable area on Earth, and the two countries share a 3605 km (4,380 km/2,738 mi during Soviet times) border along it. Siberia is 'a territory larger than that of China. Less that 16 million people live in Eastern Siberia and the Russian Far East. By contrast, over 1.3 billion people live in China.' http://www.hooverassociation.org/americanroadrussian.htm - not a great link, but adequate.

During the Cold War, that 2/3 of the Soviet Union's military was positioned against China is something I remember reading and being astounded about in the 1980s. And of course, China and the Soviet Union did actually have a not so minor border conflict in 1969 (if potential nuclear escalation is a definition of not so minor).

The Russians have more on their minds than merely dealing with the West. The emptiness of Siberia along with the crowding in China is a source of long term tension which is unlikely to go away. From the link -

'A March 2001 interview with Sergei Karaganov, Chairman of the Foreign and Defense Policy Council, a prominent Russian think tank with ties to the Russian government, illustrates this:

Question: “What should Russia’s attitude be toward NATO eastward expansion?”
Karaganov: “We should oppose it. Of course, we could spend tremendous effort and resources on fighting this ‘Evil,’ but it is the same as trying to restrict population growth
in China from the outside. By the way, the latter is potentially more dangerous for Russia.”

Russian historians are well aware of China’s history of encouraging the migration of ethnic Han Chinese to populate and solidify Chinese control of areas such as Inner Mongolia, Tibet, and Xinjiang. Therefore, Russians worry not only about outright war over its regions, but also about the slow migration of Chinese across their common border. Thus the legal and illegal presence of ethnic Chinese in Siberia and the Far East is viewed in Russia as a serious problem.'

The Russians have their own problems, which the West easily overlooks. Preventing a hundred million Chinese from simply walking into Siberia over the next generation or two is part of the geopolitical concerns involved with Russian energy policy, which has nothing to do with free market principles, or contractual obligations.