Russian and Chinese militaries have agreed to increase their pragmatic cooperation in the military field, senior military officials from both countries have announced.

On Friday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu met Zhang Youxia, vice chairman of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Military Commission and a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee in Moscow and discussed measures to increase the cooperation among the armies of two countries.

After the meeting, Zhang said that the China-Russia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Coordination is operating at a high level under the guidance of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Over the past years, cooperation between two countries has increased to a new level. Since the beginning of this year, nice progress has been made in fields such as joint military exercises, international military competitions, and strategic anti-missile operations.

“Highly confidential relations between the Russian and Chinese state leaders play a very important role in bilateral ties. Russian President Vladimir Putin participated as the main guest in the Belt and Road Forum that was held in Beijing in May, in July China’s President Xi Jinping visited Russia, and in November the leaders held substantial talks on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Da Nang,” the Russian defense minister noted.

Shoigu also said that Russia is closely monitoring how agreements reached at the highest level are being implemented.

“We intend to further develop relations between our defense ministries in all areas. I am confident that today’s meeting will help it,” Shoigu concluded.

Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin met with Zhang Youxia on Thursday, and assured Zhang Youxia that Russian foreign policy considers strategic partnership with China a major area to focus in coming years.