The Russian Academy of Sciences is reportedly seeking funding from the Kremlin for a feasibility study for a project to divert water from the Ob River to Central Asia. The request raises an immediate question to which there isn’t a clear answer: what’s in it for Moscow?

Diverting Siberian river water to Central Asia is not a new idea; a Soviet plan to do so was developed back in the 1970s, but it ended up being abandoned during the Perestroika era in the mid-80s. That old plan envisioned the construction of an open canal, while the new iteration would supposedly involve the laying of plastic water pipes across more than 2,000 kilometres (1,243 miles) of rugged terrain, the Russian news outlet RBK reported. 

The estimated price tag is $100bn and construction would take at least 10 years to complete. If built to its currently envisioned specifications, up to 22 cubic kilometres (5.3 cubic miles) of water per year could be diverted to Central Asia.

A feasibility study, provided it receives the requested funding, would gauge the technical challenges and potential risks of undertaking such an ambitious infrastructure project, including “climatic effects, the impact on water and terrestrial ecosystems, and  the impact on the long-term socio-economic development of the participating countries,” according to a Forbes.ru report.

The Russian Academy of Sciences is also reportedly ready to undertake a feasibility study on the diversion of waters from the Pechora and Northern Dvina rivers to southern Russian regions via the Volga River Basin. The report notes that many Russian regions are grappling with water shortages, including Kalmykia and Krasnodar Krai, along with the Astrakhan, Orenburg and Rostov regions.

Forbes.ru cites a Russian scientist, Robert Nigmatulin, as saying the pipeline project could alleviate Central Asia’s growing water deficit. The reports, while mentioning cost, do not mention anything about potential financing, or whether Central Asian beneficiary states have had a chance to review and endorse the plan. 

It’s also unclear whether the project would be a for-profit venture, turning water into an export commodity like oil and natural gas, or whether Russia intends to try to use water as an instrument of geopolitical leverage. Perhaps both.

This article first appeared on Eurasianet here.