<div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Russia's economic and trade links with China are "yielding results" as he welcomed Chinese Premier Li Qiang to the Kremlin.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Moscow has looked to Beijing as an economic lifeline since the Ukraine conflict began, with the two boosting trade to record highs as Russia faces heavy economic sanctions from the West.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Our trade relations are developing successfully... The attention that the two governments on both sides are paying to trade and economic ties is yielding results," Putin said in a meeting with Li.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Our states have worked out large-scale joint plans, projects in economic and humanitarian spheres, we expect for many years ahead," he added.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Li told Putin that "Chinese-Russian relations are at an unprecedentedly high level," according to the Kremlin's translation of his remarks, saying Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping had created a "strong impulse for further deepening of bilateral relations".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a separate meeting with Li, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin hailed the countries' links as a stabilising element.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Our partnership and strategic cooperation is especially important in a situation where new contours of the global order are being formed," Mishustin said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"And in these conditions, the Russia-China link is a powerful stabilising factor, promoting economic growth in both countries and increasing quality of life for our citizens," the Russian premier said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Citing a joint communique, Chinese state media Xinhua said the two sides agreed to optimize trade structure, grow bilateral trade volume and promote development of e-commerce.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It also said they would make efforts "to expand mutually beneficial cooperation in the Arctic" as well as bilateral agricultural trade.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Trade ties -</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Moscow and Beijing both rail against "western hegemony", particularly what they see as US domination of global affairs, and Mishustin on Wednesday said the two countries must "focus efforts on protecting our shared interests".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Xinhua said the two denounced countries that "use the so-called 'rules-based order' to maintain their own privileges" and decried their obstruction of "the collective rise of emerging markets and developing countries".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Facing Western sanctions, Russia has pushed to use non-Western currencies as the basis for its trade.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Today the share of the ruble and the yuan in mutual settlements is already over 95 percent," Mishustin said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">China presents itself as a neutral party in Russia's offensive on Ukraine and says it is not sending lethal assistance to either side, unlike the United States and other Western nations.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But it is a close political and economic ally of Russia, and NATO members have branded Beijing a "decisive enabler" of the conflict, which it has never condemned.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Beijing has also benefited from cheap Russian energy imports and access to vast natural resources, including steady gas shipments through the Power of Siberia pipeline.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Li's visit comes as India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi is visiting Poland, set to make his first visit to Ukraine at the end of the week. India, China's regional rival, is also close with Russia, but Modi has repeatedly called for an end to the conflict.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>