Russia's President Putin and China's President Xi Jinping attend a signing ceremony in Shanghai
Russia's President Vladimir Putin (L) and China's President Xi Jinping attend a signing ceremony in Shanghai May 21, 2014. REUTERS/Alexei Druzhinin/RIA N

Russia has signed a series of deals with China to ease the effects of sanctions over the Ukraine crisis. As reported in the Wall Street Journal, the Russia-China agreements are seen as evidence of Moscow's efforts to focus on the East. Russian President Vladimir Putin approved the deals to avoid total isolation.

The report said both the prime ministers of Russia and China had signed a total of 38 deals in Moscow in relation to trade, finance, energy and defence. An agreement involving a currency swap was also signed to reduce the countries' dependency on the U.S. dollar.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said China and Russia have agreed to "open credit lines" for their joint projects. He admitted that the current situation in world finance is not easy since not all countries are developing fast enough. The prime minister said Russia has challenges of its own.

China's Export-Import bank is said to provide credit lines worth $2 billion each to Russia's state banks Vneshekonombank and VTB. The credit line issued to VTB will be used for a wide range of products from China including high-tech equipment, reports said.

Chinese Prime Minister Li Kequiang added that the relationship between Russia and China continues to grow dramatically despite this year's international trade difficulties. He said this just shows that the two countries have "huge potential for cooperation."

However, business observers said the Chinese have been hesitant to invest in Russia because they are afraid of angering the West. The Chinese government may also be concerned about falling oil prices. Oil is the most important export of Russia.

Mr Wedvedev said Russia and China may soon plan on building a Western gas pipeline in 2015. If negotiations are successful, the additional natural gas pipeline to China will be able to provide energy using the Western route by 2015. The Russian prime minister revealed that the final details regarding the construction of the second pipeline may be done within 2015.

OAO Rosneft, Russia's state oil giant, said it has also signed a deal with to strengthen relations with the China National Petroleum Corp. The oil company has been hit by Western sanctions over Ukraine. As Western funding came to a halt in recent months, Russia has turned to China to offer stakes in the country's oil fields.