Xi recently instructed his government to deepen economic ties with Russia, which have played a crucial role for Moscow amid the Western economic pressure since the beginning of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, the report said on Wednesday.
The strengthening of economic ties with Russia includes increasing Chinese imports of Russian oil, gas and farming goods, as well as more joint energy partnerships in the Arctic and more investments in Russian infrastructure, the report added.
The head of the Federal Customs Service of Russia, Vladimir Bulavin, said in November that the country's trade with China could grow by 27% to $160 billion in 2022.
The volume of Russia-China trade reached the $100 billion mark in 2018. On February 4, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Xi set a new target of $250 billion in trade turnover by 2024 at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, increasing the previous objective of $200 billion agreed to by both leaders.