Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday hailed “flourishing” trade ties with China during a meeting with a top Chinese official in Moscow as the two countries bolster their partnership in the face of mounting frictions with the West.

Speaking to Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Putin said Russia-China “large-scale joint plans and projects” in economic and humanitarian areas would “continue for many years,” according to a Kremlin readout.

Li, China’s No. 2 official under leader Xi Jinping, had traveled to Moscow for a longstanding annual meeting with Russia’s prime minister, which focused on economic and practical cooperation as the Kremlin continues to look to Beijing for economic partnership as its war with Ukraine grinds on.

In his remarks to Putin, the Chinese premier hailed efforts by the Russian leader and Xi to “inject strong momentum” into “deepening bilateral relations and cooperation,” according to Chinese state media.

Li’s four-day trip, which will include a stop in Russian ally Belarus, is the first visit to Russia by a high-level Chinese official since the Kremlin’s war with Ukraine took on a new dimension following a surprise, ongoing military incursion by Ukrainian forces into the Russian border region of Kursk two weeks ago.

Russia has been scrambling to repel that assault, which marks the first time foreign troops entered Russian territory since World War II and comes amid mounting pressure for a conclusion to the war in Ukraine, which began in 2022 with Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor.

The Kremlin has become increasingly reliant on China’s market, goods and investment since the start of the war, when it was slapped with broad international sanctions – and both Moscow and Beijing see the other as a key counterweight against a West they see as seeking to suppress their development.

In his meeting Wednesday with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Li said China was ready to work with Russia to strengthen “all-round practical cooperation” and stressed that the countries’ relations did not “target any third party.”

The two nominal heads of government agreed to expand bilateral economic and trade cooperation and pledged to oppose any attempt to restrict their “economic development, technological progress, and international development,” according to Chinese state media.

“Certain countries” obstruct the “collective rise of emerging markets and developing countries,” the two officials said, using typical language to refer to their shared view on the United States and its allies.

An official readout from the meeting released by China’s Foreign Ministry did not mention the war in Ukraine.

Speaking to Li, Mishustin said Russia and China were “in a difficult external situation” as Western countries impose “illegitimate sanctions under far-fetched pretexts” and seek to “contain the economic and technological potential of Russia and China.”

“That is why it is important to concentrate efforts on protecting our common interests, building a multipolar world order and strengthening coordination on international platforms,” he said, according to Russian state media.

Record trade

Beijing has faced mounting scrutiny and pressure from the West to curtail the export of dual-use goods such as aerospace, manufacturing and technology equipment to Russia, which Western leaders and Kyiv have alleged are propping up the Russian war effort.

Chinese officials have sought to present the country as a neutral, aspiring peace broker in the war, but have had limited high-level contact with Kyiv while continuing to deepen relations with Moscow across trade, diplomacy and security.

China last month hosted a top Ukrainian official for the first time since Russia’s invasion of the country nearly two and half years ago.

Last week, in response to a media inquiry on the situation in Kursk, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry called on “all parties” not to expand the battlefield, escalate fighting and “fuel the flame,” saying China would continue to work for a “political settlement of the crisis.”

Wednesday’s meeting between Li and Mishustin is part of annual talks held since 1996, typically focused on economic, cultural and humanitarian cooperation and seen as a means to implement broader policy direction set by Xi and Putin.

Following Wednesday’s talks, the two sides signed a host of cooperation documents in areas including science and technology, chemical industry, maritime search and rescue, and cross-border cargo transport, according to Chinese state media.

Trade between China and Russia hit record highs last year, surpassing a target of $240 billion ahead of schedule. Russia has grown hugely reliant on China’s market, goods and investment since it was slapped with broad international sanctions following its Ukraine invasion.

Bilateral trade increased by more than a quarter year-on-year in 2023 from 2022, but has only grown about 1.6% between January and July this year over the same period last year, according to China’s customs data.

Li is expected to end his four-day trip in Belarus, where he will meet Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko for an “in-depth exchange of views on bilateral relations and cooperation in various fields,” China’s Foreign Ministry said Monday.

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