In an interview with the website of the Strategic Council on Foreign Relations, while referring to the bilateral, regional, and international dimensions of the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to China to participate in the third “Belt and Road Initiative” meeting, Afifeh Abedi noted: Since the beginning of Russia’s war against Ukraine, the trip to China is Putin’s first visit to an area outside the geography of the former Soviet Union. This trip was another step toward increasing and expanding political, economic, and security relations between Moscow and Beijing, and its most important message is the deepening of Russian-Chinese cooperation in the international arena.

She stated that Putin’s visit to China, a few months after Xi Jinping visited Moscow in March 2023, showed an acceleration of Moscow-Beijing relations and continued: It seems that Russia and China are paying attention to the strengthening of economic ties to consolidate political relations. Statistics show that China is Russia’s largest trading partner. The value of trade relations between China and Russia in 2022 increased by 34.3 percent compared to the same period last year and reached a record of 1.28 trillion yuan, equivalent to 190 billion dollars.

The researcher of the Research Center of the Expediency Council added: This is the first time that bilateral trade exceeded the border of one trillion yuan. Probably, the volume of trade relations between Russia and China will exceed 200 billion dollars in 2023.

Abedi reminded: However, from every point of view that this relationship is analyzed, the role of international structural factors is prominent in it. The leaders of China and Russia seek to make economic and trade cooperation a central axis in the relations between the two countries. However, it cannot be concealed that the most critical aspect of this relationship is its international goals, and the US is considered the most crucial driving force in the relationship between Russia and China.

According to the expert on Russian affairs, Russia and China are facing the hostile policies of the United States and have concluded that they should reduce the influence of the global policies of the United States and the influence of Washington against themselves by raising the level of bilateral relations and synergy in the international sphere and increase their international influence against the West and especially the United States. The presidents of Russia and China speak openly about the need to change the world system and create a multipolar international order.

Saying that at the BRICS summit in South Africa, the main focus of the statements of the Chinese and Russian officials was to focus on the unfair global conditions and efforts to create a just world, she said: Beijing and Moscow, together with political, economic and military synergy in the field of action, can play a determining role in the world order.

Abedi said: Previously, the most critical areas of business cooperation between Russia and China were the traditional areas of energy and weaponry. However, the areas of economic cooperation between Moscow and Beijing have expanded and have taken on geopolitical and geo-economic dimensions and meaning. Strengthening political security and financial institutions is also an essential part of such cooperation. In recent years, Russia and China have made additional efforts to support the Shanghai and BRICS organizations.

She listed the development and strengthening of the Belt and Road Corridor as one of those efforts. She continued: Russia is interested in promoting a unique position in the Belt-Road Initiative and has proposed various ways to the Chinese. One of the ways is the cooperation in Central Asia and, in fact, the strategy of integrating China’s New Silk Road with Russia’s Eurasian Economic Union. In 2018, China signed a free trade agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union. However, the Russians presented several projects to create a link between China and the Eurasian Union.

An analyst of Russian affairs called the use of the capacities of the North Sea to promote the Belt and Road Initiative one of those ideas that has taken an operational form and said China has become the investor of this project by agreeing to invest in the Northern Sea Route. China’s investment in developing Russia’s northern ports has increased, and the north sea route includes shipping and transportation seaways built on Russia’s polar coast. This route is called the “Arctic Silk Road”.

Abedi pointed to the efforts of the United States to create an innovative corridor known as the “India-West Asia-Europe” corridor and added: Probably, with the announcement of the US plan for a middle corridor from India to Europe, the motivation of China and Russia to create the northern corridor will increase. But the critical point is that with the increasing conflict between China and Russia with the West, the opportunities in the European market will decrease, and China and Russia should connect this corridor to the North-South corridor and think about expanding the market in West Asia, Africa, and South America.

She also pointed to Putin’s meetings with the leaders of Hungary, Thailand, Pakistan, and Vietnam on the sidelines of the Belt and Road Initiative meeting. She said Putin’s meeting with the prime minister of Hungary provoked the reaction of the United States. In that meeting, despite the current geopolitical conditions, Putin described his relations with many European countries as satisfactory and developing and emphasized that this process will continue.