The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Tianjin closed with a handshake worth billions of dollars. While Xi Jinping and Putin were preparing their bilateral meeting, after meetings with the other 18 countries invited to the summit, the Russian energy giant Gazprom signed “a legally binding agreement” for the construction of the Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline to China and the Soyuz Vostok transit pipeline through Mongolia. The news released by Bloomberg, which quotes the words of the group's number one Alexei Miller to Interfax, confirms the strengthening of the Moscow-Beijing axis in the energy sector which has experienced a new renaissance after the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine and the imposition of sanctions by the European Union and the United States.

The new agreement will boost the Kremlin's export capacity, which, through the Power of Siberia pipeline, already boasts a planned transport capacity of 33 billion cubic meters per year. Alexei Miller said the two companies have agreed to increase gas supplies through the Power of Siberia pipeline to 44 billion cubic meters and to increase those via the Far Eastern route from 10 to 12 billion cubic meters."Gazprom and CNPC also signed a new memorandum on strategic cooperation today, which reflects the new stage in our work with CNPC on new projects," he added.

The agreement came at the end of two days of intense meetings, before the Russian president flies to Beijing with his Chinese counterpart on Wednesday to attend the grand military parade in Tiananmen Square to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the victory in World War II. This gesture strengthens the"boundless friendship" between the two powers and is also confirmed by another agreement signed in recent hours, the one on the elimination of visas for Russian citizens wishing to travel to China. Starting September 15, citizens of the Federation will be able to travel to the People's Republic without a visa for 30 days.