Impending water tug-of-war in Central Asia?

Here's one proposal for a megaproject that doesn't seem to have moved much since it was (re)announced.

Russian scientists are reviving an old Soviet plan to divert some of Siberia's mightiest rivers [the Ob and Irtysh] to the parched former Soviet republics of central Asia.
Its backers say it will solve a growing water crisis in [central Asia] and replenish the now desiccated Aral Sea...
Recent increases in the flows of Siberia's rivers, probably due to global warming, have raised fears that a less salty Arctic Ocean could shut down the Gulf Stream and trigger icy winters across Europe. Diverting part of the flow of the rivers could prevent that.

The global warming bit is probably a ploy to garner international support, i.e. funding. According to the piece, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan are growing cotton, a water-intensive crop; as a result, they have the highest water consumption per capita in the world.

Meanwhile, an NGO in Kazakhstan is getting edgy about China's increased water usage in Xinjiang as the region is developed.

Mels Eleusizov heads the Kazakh nongovernmental organization Tabigat (Nature). He said the Irtysh and Ili rivers, which both originate in mountainous areas of Xinjiang before crossing into Kazakhstan, are being increasingly drained to serve China’s needs.

It would certainly reduce the value of the Russian water diversion megaproject if the Chinese diverted the Irtysh at its source.