President Vladimir Putin’s turn to China amid the worst standoff with the U.S. since the Cold War is prompting companies to take a fresh look at yuan bonds.

OAO Gazprom, the world’s biggest natural-gas producer, is considering issuing yuan-denominated debt, two people with knowledge of the matter said last week. The yield on OAO Gazprombank’s 1 billion yuan ($161 million) bond due in 2017 jumped 75 basis points since Putin’s incursion into Crimea, which compares with an average yield drop of five basis points for Dim Sum bonds, Bank of America Merrill Lynch data show.

The standoff in Ukraine means Gazprom probably won’t be the last as state-controlled companies take their cue, according to UralSib Asset Management. The U.S. warned Russia last week that more sanctions may be imposed.

“This would be a curtsey in front of China,” Alexey Korolenko, who helps oversee about 45 billion rubles ($1.3 billion) of assets at UralSib Asset Management in Moscow, said by phone on April 11. “There’s a new trend of avoiding markets where there’s a risk of potential sanctions, so it’s very likely that this won’t be the only yuan bond issuance.”

China is Russia’s largest trade partner after the European Union and the only country in the United Nations Security Council not to censure its actions in Crimea. Gazprom’s press office declined to comment on the yuan debt plan.

The market will be a “logical extension” of Russian companies’ strategy this year, Denis Shulakov, head of capital markets at Gazprombank, said in February. Russian companies sold $603 million of yuan debt last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The crisis in Ukraine increases the chances Putin will sign a 30-year deal to supply pipeline gas to China next month after more than a decade of false starts, while investor relations staff are under orders to find more shareholders and lenders in Asia and other emerging markets, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

“Both Japan and China have growing long-term needs for gas and oil,” said Jeremy Brewin, who helps oversee about $7.5 billion of bonds as the head of emerging-market debt at ING Investment Management in The Hague. “Russia needs to broaden its client base for both.” (Bloomberg)