OREANDA-NEWS Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the hybrid war unleashed by the West against Russia opens new opportunities for expanding Russian-Chinese cooperation. He said this while speaking at a conference titled "Russia and China: cooperation in a new era," according to Gazeta.ru.

He noted that the word "crisis" in Chinese is a combination of two characters: "danger" and "opportunity. Given the transformation of American and European currencies in the "blackmail tool" Russia and China will develop an independent financial infrastructure and increase the use of ruble and yuan in mutual settlements, the minister said. According to him, China already accounts for a quarter of Russia's trade turnover.

Earlier it was reported that trade turnover between Russia and China increased by 38% in two months. According to Chinese customs, trade between the two countries in January-February 2022 reached $26.43 billion.