Russian PM arrives in China for business forum, talks with Xi

China’s deeper economic and political relationship with Russia has not been derailed by Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has arrived in China, the Moscow foreign ministry said, for a visit during which he will meet President Xi Jinping and sign a series of agreements on infrastructure and trade.

Mishustin arrived in Shanghai late Monday, the ministry said, where he was greeted at the airport by Moscow’s ambassador to China, Igor Morgulov, and Beijing’s top diplomat to Russia, Zhang Hanhui.

He will participate in a Russian-Chinese business forum and visit a petrochemical research institute in Shanghai, the Kremlin said, and hold talks with “representatives of Russian business circles”.

That forum has invited a number of sanctioned Russian tycoons — including from key fertilizer, steel and mining sectors — as well as Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, who deals with energy issues, according to Bloomberg News.

China became Russia’s largest energy customer last year, whose gas exports had otherwise plummeted after Western countries imposed harsh sanctions over Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Mishustin will then travel to Beijing, where he will meet with Xi and Prime Minister Li Qiang, according to Russian state media TASS.

China and Russia have stepped up their economic cooperation and diplomatic contacts in recent years, and their strategic partnership has strengthened since Moscow launched its invasion.

Although China claims to be a neutral party in that war, it has not condemned Russia’s actions.

In February, Beijing released a 12-point document calling for a “political settlement” to the conflict that Western countries said could allow Russia to seize much of the territory it has taken in Ukraine. to hold.

At a March summit in Moscow, Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an agreement to forge ties in a “new era” of cooperation. Xi also invited Putin, who days earlier had been the target of an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in Ukraine, to visit Beijing.

Analysts say China has the upper hand in relations with Russia, and its influence is growing as Moscow’s international isolation deepens.