A slew of Chinese companies are investing in Russia, according to the CEO of Russia's sovereign wealth fund, who said it was helping to negate the void caused by international sanctions.



Speaking at the Egypt Economic Development Conference (EEDC) in the resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), underlined the importance of China's relationship with Russia.

"We have a special program where we co-invest with people to localize their production in Russia, and frankly we see (a) major surge of strategies from China," he told CNBC on the sidelines of the event.



"So a little bit less European countries are coming in right now, but lots of Chinese companies are coming in in mass. So we believe that for Russia it's important to continue working with China, but also to have a strategic relationship with Europe."



Russia annexed the southern Ukrainian area of Crimea in March 2014 and, as a result, has faced tough economic sanctions from Western nations.