Russian companies are diversifying their channels of finance and increasingly seeking loans from China as they face sweeping US and EU sanctions amid the Ukraine crisis.

Zhong Hong, executive senior economist with the Institute of International Finance at Bank of China, said: "Many Russian companies are turning their eyes toward global financial centers in the East, including Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai, as their relations with Western countries continue to sour.

"A growing number of Russian banks and companies choose to seek finance from China, especially under the rapid development of Sino-Russian trade."

Many large Russian companies, such as natural gas and oil producer Gazprom, are contacting Chinese-funded financial institutions to discuss the possibility of opening an account for trade settlement and financing, creating the opportunity for financial cooperation between the countries, Zhong said.

The US and EU imposed sanctions limiting certain financing to some of Russia's largest banks and energy companies after Crimea left Ukraine to join Russia in a referendum in March 2014.

Feng Yujun, director of the Institute of Russian Studies at China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said the sanctions brought relevant Russian companies under financial stress by limiting their access to US and EU sources of financing.

"Sino-Russian financial cooperation is not aimed at fighting against Western countries. Instead, it is deepening naturally along with continued growth in bilateral trade and investment," he said.

China's exports to Russia reached $53.6 billion in 2014, up 8.2 percent from the previous year. Its imports from-Russia increased by 4.9 percent to $41.6 billion.

Demands for financial cooperation between the countries are rising with continued growth in trade.

Last year, the Chinese and Russian central banks signed a currency swap agreement worth 150 billion yuan ($24 billion), providing convenience for investment, financing and trade.

Apart from increasing the use of its local currency, China is pushing forward the construction of a cross-border renminbi payment and settlement system.

The countries also encourage companies to enter each other's interbank and capital markets for investment and financing.

"It is expected that financial cooperation between China and Russia will continue to widen and deepen, involving larger amounts of money in more fields, such as providing export loans and using local currencies in bilateral trade settlement. The models of cooperation, whether bilateral or multilateral, will become increasingly flexible and diversified," Feng said.

jiangxueqing@chinadaily.com.cn