Abstract: This article explores Russia’s engagement with Northeast Asia (NEA) in the area of oil and gas and examines the sustainability of Russia’s energy policy vis-à-vis Asia. The study argues that: (1) Russia’s eastward shift is a pragmatic choice to escape the evolution of the EU’s energy-governance institutions to establish a uniformly regulated European energy market, which has become increasingly incompatible with Russia’s state-capitalism mode of energy governance; (2) Russia’s region-specific (Eastern Siberia and Far East) and sector-specific (oil and gas) arrangements prove to be an expedient means to forge Russia’s energy ties with the geopolitically complex region of NEA; (3) to succeed in the long-term, Russia needs to replace its reactive energy policy towards Asia with a proactive attitude vis-à-vis both the evolving individual energy policies of NEA countries and the ongoing institutionalization of the energy markets in the region as a whole.