Trade between Russia and China dipped in 2025 after years of rapid growth, falling to $228bn, according to official data.

The total remained above the target of $200bn, set by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping during a summit in Moscow in June 2019. That threshold was passed four years later in 2023, one year earlier than planned.

Last year’s slowdown marked a break from the sharp increases recorded since 2022, when western sanctions on Moscow redirected Russian exports towards China and deepened economic ties between the two countries.

The $228bn figure keeps Russia among China’s more significant trading partners, particularly as a supplier of oil, gas and coal. However, in relative terms, the bilateral total is only modestly higher than China’s trade with Thailand and is a fraction of its total trade turnover. China has become the biggest trade partner with almost every country in Asia and its turnover with the EU and the US was $800bn and fell to $690bn last year due to US President Donald Trump’s sanctions respectively.

Moscow remains more dependent on Beijing than vice versa but is nevertheless a strategically important partner thanks to its delivery of essential production, including oil, gas and other raw materials China lacks. China’s total goods trade exceeded $5 trillion in 2025.

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, China has become Russia’s largest single trading partner as part of the “no limits” partnership agreed between the two presidents during Xi’s Moscow trip in March 2023. In return, Chinese exports of vehicles, machinery and electronics to Russia have risen sharply, filling gaps left by departing western companies.

Despite the slight dip in 2025, the trade total remains historically elevated compared with pre-2022 levels. Following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 their mutual trade turnover was a mere $5bn.