RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin has met Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Moscow, hailing growing trade between the two nations.

Mr Putin said: “Our trade relations are developing successfully. The attention that the governments of the two countries on both sides are paying to trade and economic ties is yielding results.”

He also said that Russia and China had developed “large-scale plans” for economic and other projects.

“Chinese-Russian relations are at an unprecedentedly high level,” said Mr Li, who had earlier met his Russian counterpart, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.

Wednesday’s meeting at the Kremlin took place the day after Moscow experienced one of the largest waves of Ukrainian drone attacks on the Russian capital since Russia invaded its neighbour.

Russian news reports did not indicate whether Mr Putin and Mr Li had discussed Ukraine.

China has remained neutral on the Ukraine conflict, but it shares Russia’s concerns about Nato expanding eastwards.

Western countries have continued to target Russia and China with economic sanctions.