The Russian government announced on Monday that Alexander Novak, Deputy Prime Minister and President Vladimir Putin’s main envoy for oil and gas, will lead a Russian delegation to China to take part in an intergovernmental commission on energy.

Without giving more details, it stated that the delegation of up to 20 officials would be in China from December 12 to 16.

China has become one of Russia’s main trade partner and together with India buys a bulk of Russian oil exports, which Moscow has redirected from Europe following sanctions imposed on Russia after the start of the conflict in Ukraine in February 2022.

Russia also seeks to boost its natural gas supplies to China to around 100 billion cubic metres (bcm) per year by 2030 from more than 22 bcm expected to be shipped via the Power of Siberia 1 pipeline this year.

Moscow has been engaged for painstaking talks with China over the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline, designed to carry Russian natural gas from northern Siberia – a source base for dwindling deliveries to Europe – to China via Mongolia.