Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Beijing this week could clear a logjam for the construction of a long-delayed oil pipeline to China.

Putin said earlier this month that a deal to increase overland flows eastward was “very close,” as the Kremlin’s battlefield strategy stalls out and its economic woes mount: Nearly one-third of Russian small businesses are considering closure or sale amid crushing inflation. The PS2 pipeline presents Moscow’s “only real chance” of offsetting the loss of its European markets, the Financial Times wrote.

While Russia needs PS2 more than China, Beijing may approve it on the grounds that its seaborne supplies could be further disrupted by a resumption of hostilities in Iran, a Carnegie expert told The Economist.