The Russian fed. sending M/G and P/K to France is definitely a test to see who is #4. They could have sent one of them to China instead (where as the sole Russian team they would have been #1) and give E/K the third spot in France but they didn't. Whoever comes out on top will certainly head into nationals with the advantage. I guess they didn't want to wait.
I can't decide if B/K competing against T/M twice is good or bad, there are definite positives and negatives. It certainly benefits Z/E more then it does either B/K or T/M and puts off the race for #2 until later in the season.
Overall I do think its a sign that the Russian fed. see the top 3 as T/M, Z/E and B/K and will keep it that way unless things happen. If the fed. were uncertain about B/K they would probably have tried to find a way to put them up against either P/K or M/G at least once.
Did the Russian fed. really decide to send E/K to China? It makes more sense, that the Chinese fed. invited them, because they are not a big threat to their pairs.