Russia and China Defy U.S. Sanctions with New LNG Shipments

China has just welcomed the first shipment from a Russian LNG export project on the Baltic Sea sanctioned by the U.S. on a U.S.-blacklisted vessel, as Russia and China continue to flaunt Western sanctions on their LNG trade.  The LNG tanker Valera, sanctioned by the United States, docked at the Chinese LNG import terminal of Beihai on Monday, according to shipping data compiled by Bloomberg. In October, Valera loaded LNG from the Portovaya LNG small-scale export plant on the Baltic Sea, Gazprom’s only LNG export facility. Portovaya and…