The growing relationship between Russia and China in the new century is supported in part on energy agreements, Russia’s foreign minister said Tuesday. “The course of Russian-Chinese relations takes into account core interests of the two nations and we have no plans to change it,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a Tuesday interview with state-backed news agency Sputnik, formerly RIA Novosti. Lavrov last month said developing a foreign policy vision that emphasizes ties in the Asia-Pacific is a national priority for the Kremlin. A Russian economy hobbled by a reliance on Europe as a destination for oil and natural gas, whose exports account for more than half of Russian revenues, has pivoted toward energy-hungry Asia-Pacific . Western powers have sanctioned the Russian energy […]