Russia and China announce agreement on construction of Power Of Siberia 2 Gas Pipeline

This Tuesday Chinese leader Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, held their second meeting in the Kremlin and announced that in it they agreed to build a giant gas pipeline that will run from Russia's Siberia region to northwest China.

According to the Russian president , "all agreements" with Xi Jinping to launch the Power Of Siberia 2 project, an over 1,600 mile pipeline that is expected to carry up to "50 billion cubic meters of gas(~1.7 trillion cubic feet)", have already been concluded.

The delivery quantities of the giant pipeline plan to handle almost the same cargo as Nord Stream 1, the pipeline that carried 55 billion cubic meters (~1.9 trillion cubic feet) of Russian gas across the Baltic Sea to Europe.

According to the Russian leader, his country is capable of supplying "the growing demand for energy in China".

Putin has made it clear that one of his main goals of the meetings with Xi Jinping is to expand trade cooperation with China. "Trade and economic cooperation is a priority in Russia-China relations," he said.

The Russian president expects that this year trade with the Asian giant will "surpass the threshold" of 200 billion dollars.

He also informed that among his plans is the creation of a "joint working body for the development of the northern maritime route" and the development of railway infrastructure between the two countries.

The war in Ukraine

After the second meeting between Russia and China, Putin said he supports the proposal of the "peaceful settlement in Ukraine". However, the Asian giant's plan includes a ceasefire with no apparent intention to withdraw Russian troops from Ukrainian territory, which has raised concerns for the United States.

"Any ceasefire that does not address the removal of Russian forces from Ukraine would effectively ratify Russia’s illegal conquest," said John Kirby, the U. S. National Security Council's strategic communications coordinator.