VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, May 31 (Xinhua) -- China's Belt and Road Initiative can benefit Russia, an economics expert said here in a recent interview with Xinhua.

Oleg Timofeyev, associate professor with the Department of Economics and Management at the State University of Management, said by implementing the project with China, Moscow will be able to expand its international influence and reduce the effect of sanctions imposed by Western countries.

Russia and China signed a joint declaration on May 8, 2015, integrating the development projects of the Eurasian Economic Union and China's Silk Road Economic Belt.

Timofeyev said China's northeastern provinces are now actively promoting the Maritime Silk Road to gain access to the seaports of the Russian Far East.

To accomplish it, "huge investments are needed to build the road corridor connecting Poltavka in Russia's Primorsky region and Dongning in China's Heilongjiang Province, a high-speed railway and highway between Russia's Far Eastern city of Vladivostok and the Chinese city of Suifenhe, and the necessary infrastructure at Vladivostok's port," said Timofeyev.

The initiative of the "Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road" was put forward by the Chinese government in 2013 to connect the economies of countries in Asia, Europe and Africa.