Russia has in recent months sought to strengthen ties with Asia, particularly China, amid Western sanctions imposed after its offensive against Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet via video conference on Friday, December 30, the Kremlin announced in connection with the accelerated rapprochement between Moscow and Beijing since the Russian offensive in Ukraine.
“Exchanging views on the most acute regional problems will be very important, some (problems) are closer to us, Russia, and others are closer to China,” Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.
“True strategic partnership”
“Our leaders will raise these issues in the spirit of our true strategic partnership,” added Dmitry Peskov, specifying that the meeting will take place “in the first half of the day” at Moscow time (Paris time +3). According to Dmitri Peskov, the exchange also concerns “bilateral relations” and “a sharp increase in the volume of trade” between the economies of the two countries.
Russia has in recent months sought to strengthen ties with Asia, particularly China, amid Western sanctions imposed after its offensive against Ukraine. Posing as a geopolitical counterweight to the United States and its allies, Moscow and Beijing have held several joint military exercises in recent months, including naval maneuvers in the East China Sea this week.
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Russia is also looking to increase gas supplies to China’s energy-intensive economy and has accelerated that move. In fact, Moscow has been the target of Western economic sanctions since the start of its military attack on Ukraine and has sharply reduced its hydrocarbon supplies to Europe, turning to Asia to compensate.
Last week Vladimir Putin officially launched the exploitation of a huge deposit in Siberia, which should allow to increase exports to China. Russia also plans to build the Siberian Force 2 gas pipeline from 2024 to supply Beijing via Mongolia, another sign that Russia’s energy strategy has indeed taken an eastward turn.