Since Western countries imposed sanctions on Moscow, bilateral trade between the two neighbours has reached a record $190 billion and the proportion of Russian foreign trade carried out in yuan has gone from 0.5 percent to 16 percent.
"It's absolutely critical for Russia to be close to China, because Russia doesn't have many trade friends," Elina Ribakova, deputy chief economist at the Institute of International Finance, told AFP.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is now preparing to host Chinese leader Xi Jinping next week.
Read the full story and more from AFP and France 24.
Author
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Elina Ribakova
Former Adjunct Senior Fellow, Energy, Economics, and Security Program
Elina Ribakova is a former Adjunct Senior Fellow for the Energy, Economics, and Security Program and has been a nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for Interna...
