First off, its a 30 year deal and reportedly only 400 billion worth, so please don't go about fluffing numbers to buttress your argument.
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-27503017
And you're paying for the amount of gas and oil being consumed. Youre not doin anyone any charity. so I don't see a comparison to this situation.
Besides, if the projected cost of the project is 4-5 billion, why would we pay anything more, and not to forget the 25-30 billion in orders out of captive consumption?! Why wouldn't we try to maximize the gains for our risk? High risk high reward, no? We want TOT for the risk we are taking. Those are basic rules of investment.
Which other country will risk and guarantee that investment to Russia? If you know any, maybe you should drop the Russians some intel because they will be very interested.
They may not be poor, but they still need cash. No one likes losing customers, especially paying customers.
Notice how quickly Pakistan was dropped by the US like a hot potato! Should tell you the value of a paying customer with deep pockets.