Russian PM confident China shares ties with Moscow at ‘unprecedented high level’

The Russian politician expressed confidence that the two countries will achieve a target of annual bilateral trade turnover of $200 billion ahead of schedule.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin told China’s premier that bilateral relations are stronger than ever, underscoring how much the two nations are united by a mission to counter the US-led world order.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Chinese Premier Li Qiang. (via REUTERS)

“Today, relations between Russia and China are at an unprecedented high level,” Mishustin told Premier Li Qiang in Beijing on Wednesday. “They are characterized by mutual respect of each other’s interests, the desire to jointly respond to challenges, which is associated with increased turbulence in the international arena and the pattern of sensational pressure from the collective West.”

The Russian politician expressed confidence that the two countries will achieve a target of annual bilateral trade turnover of $200 billion ahead of schedule, and may even exceed the goal.

Mishustin, who is on a two-day trip to China told a business forum in Shanghai on Tuesday that Russia’s farmers were ready to significantly increase agricultural exports to China. The leader who is sanctioned by the US and many of its allies added that bilateral trade had helped Russia decrease its “dependence on the dollar,” according to Russian news agency Interfax.

Mishustin’s inaugural visit to China as prime minister comes as Xi has dispatched a special envoy to Ukraine and several European countries. The simultaneous trips symbolize how Beijing is balancing maintaining ties with Moscow, while also trying to portray Xi as a global peacemaker with unique ties to leaders on both sides of Russia’s war.