China ready to help Russia with economy

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has expressed his country’s readiness to help Russia weather its current economic woes.

Speaking to reporters over the weekend, Wang said that Moscow enjoys the “wisdom” to get out of its problems, the official China Daily reported on Monday.

But, the Chinese foreign minister stressed that if Russia feels the need, “we will provide necessary assistance within our capacity,” adding that Moscow and Beijing have constantly helped each other in the past.

China and Russia have close diplomatic and economic relations, particularly in the energy sector.

The Russian currency, the ruble, has seen a sharp drop of about 45 percent against the US dollar this year as Western sanctions imposed on Moscow over the crisis in Ukraine and the fall in the prices of oil have battered the Russian economy.

However, Russian President Vladimir Putin has rejected to call the economic situation in Russia a crisis and said the ruble would eventually recover.

Tensions between Russia and the West heightened after Crimea’s largely Russian-speaking residents voted to break away from Ukraine and re-joined Russia in March.

Washington and the European Union (EU) accuse Russia of destabilizing Ukraine and have imposed a number of sanctions against Russian and pro-Russia figures. Moscow rejects the accusation.