According to Moscow’s foreign ministry, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has arrived in China for a visit during which he will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping and sign a number of infrastructure and trade agreements.
Mishustin arrived late Monday in Shanghai, where he was greeted by Moscow’s ambassador to China Igor Morgulov and Beijing’s senior diplomat to Russia Zhang Hanhui, according to the ministry.
He will participate in a Russian-Chinese Business Forum, visit a petrochemical research institute in Shanghai, and meet with “representatives of Russian business circles”, according to the Kremlin.
Bloomberg reported that this forum has invited a number of sanctioned Russian tycoons, including those from the fertiliser, steel, and mining industries, as well as Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, who oversees energy issues.
The Russian Prime Minister has arrived in China to meet with President Xi and attend a business summit.
Russia’s gas exports had plummeted after a spate of Western sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine, but China surpassed the United States as Russia’s largest energy customer last year.
According to TASS, Mishustin will then travel to Beijing, where he will confer with Xi and Premier Li Qiang.
China and Russia have intensified their economic and diplomatic ties in recent years, and their strategic partnership has only grown closer since the invasion of Ukraine.
While China claims to be impartial in this conflict, it has refused to condemn Russia’s invasion.
In February, Beijing issued a paper advocating for a “political settlement” to the conflict, which Western nations claimed would allow Russia to retain a significant portion of the territory it has seized in Ukraine.
During a summit held in March in Moscow, Xi invited Putin to visit Beijing.
China has the upper hand in its relationship with Russia, and its influence is growing as Moscow’s international isolation increases, according to analysts.