BEIJING: Russia and China jointly oppose “discriminatory” sanctions in global trade that hinder the world’s socio-economic development, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a written interview with China’s official Xinhua news agency.
The two countries will continue to work to reduce mutual trade barriers, Putin said in the interview published on Saturday on the eve of a visit to Russia’s biggest trading partner.
Putin will be in China from Sunday to Wednesday, in a four-day visit that the Kremlin has called “unprecedented.”
The Russian leader will first attend the two-day Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in the northern port city of Tianjin. Putin will then travel to Beijing to hold talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and attend a massive Chinese military parade marking the end of World War Two after Japan’s formal surrender.
“To sum up, economic cooperation, trade and industrial collaboration between our countries are advancing across multiple areas,” Putin said.
“During my upcoming visit, we will certainly discuss further prospects for mutually beneficial cooperation and new steps to intensify it for the benefit of the peoples of Russia and China.”
The visit to China — Putin’s first since May last year — comes as he seeks to reverse a slowdown in bilateral trade while Russia’s war in Ukraine rages on despite a recent summit with US President Donald Trump in Alaska.
When Western nations severed ties with Russia after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, China came to the rescue, buying Russian oil and selling goods from cars to electronics that pushed bilateral trade to a record $245 billion in 2024.
Putin and Xi declared a “no limits” strategic partnership in 2022. The two have met over 40 times in the past decade.