China helps Russian companies weather the crisis

China and Russia are forging partnerships to break US dominance in the global economy. In order to get through the current crisis, the Bank of China is funding large-scale Russian companies.

Russian energy giant Gazprom has secured a € 2bn loan from China. This is the largest loan the company has received from one bank. The loan from the Bank of China has a maturity of five years. The state-controlled company in 2014 agreed to supply 38 billion cubic meters of gas to China. The project was launched, but due to the economic downturn and falling commodity prices, it was in a difficult position.

Other Russian companies have also recently received money in China, such as the Norilsk Nickel mining group, the chemical company Sibur and the Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs VEB. Economic ties with Asia are expanding under pressure from Western sanctions against the Ukrainian-Russian conflict. China, in turn, wants to gradually replace the dollar with the yuan. Russia and China agreed a few months ago to process mutual settlements in national currencies, and not in dollars, in order to pass the crisis period.