Chinese Premier Li Keqiang meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin Palace in Moscow, capital of Russia, Nov. 8, 2016. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin)

Premier Li Keqiang met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday in Moscow, continuing bilateral high-level exchanges and signaling a desire for further cooperation.

A major characteristic of the China-Russia relationship is that high-level meetings are frequent between leaders of the two countries, which has become the "locomotive" that pulls bilateral ties forward, Jiang Yi, a Central Asian studies researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said on Tuesday.

In June, Li vowed to further link China's Belt and Road Initiative with the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union and to form an industrial chain for cooperation in gas, nuclear power and electricity. Putin pledged willingness to promote production capacity and third-party market cooperation.

Before his arrival in Moscow on Tuesday, Li visited the Russian coastal city of St. Petersburg, where he attended the 21st China-Russian Prime Ministers' Regular Meeting with his counterpart, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. More than 20 agreements were signed to boost bilateral cooperation in fields such as high-speed railway and nuclear power stations.

A joint statement released after their meeting emphasized further cooperation in major projects, including the 280-seat, wide-body commercial aircraft that is being jointly developed with Russia. The plane will make its first test flight by 2020 and be delivered in 10 years, according to an announcement last week by Commercial Aircraft Corp of China.

Related：

China-Russia trade to grow to $200bn

Commentary: Stable bilateral trade helps China, Russia cushion regional, int'l headwinds

China, Russia vow to safeguard peaceful border