Friendship grows stronger in adversity

Trade network

Both countries also have pledged to speed up their efforts to set up an independent trade network.

According to Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov, the neighbors have paid special attention to speeding up the formation of an independent financial infrastructure for servicing trading operations between Russia and China. He added that "third countries" would not be able to interfere with this network.

The two countries also welcomed an increase in the number of deals settled in the yuan and the rouble as well as efforts to improve access to stock markets for investors from both countries, Ushakov said.

The yuan accounted for more than 17 percent of bilateral trade settlements between the two countries and more than 12 percent of Russia's international reserves in 2020, according to Russia's central bank.

Ekaterina Kosareva, the managing partner at the WMT Consult analytical agency, said the yuan is among the top five global currencies, and that Russia's trade with China is growing. Beijing is becoming more and more interested in using the national currency for transactions abroad.

Still, much work needs to be done before the yuan can reach the levels of the US dollar and the euro in terms of international payments, she said.