The press and blogosphere are of course having a field day with the news that executives from Gazprom are enjoying a road show in Alaska this week to woo local representatives and meet with ConocoPhillips, possibly discussing participation in natural gas pipeline down to the lower 48 states. Given that Gov. Sarah Palin, the eminent “Kremlinologist,” has placed so much emphasis on her foreign policy expertise with Russia, the Gazprom invasion is embarrassing to say the least. Some think that the timing of the Alaska visit carries a message:

“The timing is as interesting as the visit itself,” said Chris Weafer, chief strategist at UralSib Financial in Moscow. “Gazprom’s entire senior management goes into Sarah Palin’s backyard during a contentious election. There’s a message there.”

He might be right. The New York Times reports that the Alaskans were expecting a two-person delegation, then were surprised to receive about a dozen, including CEO Alexei Miller and silovik-in-chief Alexandr Golubyev. However let’s not lose the plot completely. Gazprom has had a business presence in the United States for years now, with a sales and marketing office in Houston, delegations send to conferences such as the CERA, and various agreements with American firms. They even once spent a month touring the USA with a Gazprom-sponsored ice hockey team to promote the brand … I don’t recall anybody assailing Mitt Romney of rolling over to the Russian invasion when the Boston Bruins re-enacted the miracle on ice with the Gazprom team.