BEIJING, August 22. /TASS/. Top officials in Russia and China have total faith that bilateral relations will continue to progress no matter what difficulties they face, Liu Xu, deputy director of the Institute for Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies at Renmin University of China, told TASS.

"We see that the international situation is rapidly changing. Russia is under tremendous external pressure. The military confrontation between Ukraine and Russia has entered a new stage," the expert emphasized, commenting on interaction between Beijing and Moscow amid the visit of Premier of China's State Council Li Qiang to Russia, which has just concluded.

According to the expert, even despite "continuous shifts in numerous dimensions" and the escalation of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the mechanism of regular meetings between the heads of government of the two countries "continues to exist." "This increasingly demonstrates that the relations between our countries, which have faced real trials, have not been affected by Western pressure," he emphasized. "This should make a very strong impression on everyone. The leaders of China and Russia are confident in the development of Sino-Russian relations and are ready to work hard to further promote them," he added.

Liu Xu recalled that one of the key goals of the premier's visit to Moscow was to stimulate the implementation of the consensus reached earlier this year between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The expert praised the activities of bilateral intergovernmental mechanisms that promote not only economic and energy cooperation between China and Russia, but also cooperation in tourism, culture and sport.

"We have many more mutual visits scheduled. Through further exchanges in practical terms, China and Russia will be able to achieve even more through cooperation," he concluded.

On August 20, the premier of China's State Council arrived in Russia on an official visit at the invitation of Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. On Wednesday, Li Qiang was received by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The same day the Chinese head of government held a meeting with his Russian counterpart.