West sanctions will not hurt Sino-Russia ties: PBOC

Western sanctions on Russia will not affect its financial cooperation with China, said Pan Gongsheng, deputy governor of People's Bank of China, at a press conference on Friday.

"We believe that Russia has more room in the policy to fight against economic difficulties," said Pan.

"The current financial cooperation between the two countries is sound and based on mutual benefit. The central bank will support financial institutions from the two sides to develop legal business," he said.

Wang Zhaoxing, deputy chairman of China Banking Regulatory Commission, also said that the two countries have great potential in energy and financial cooperation.

"China's financial industry will strengthen support for the expansion of Sino-Russia trade," said Wang.

China and Russia agreed on a currency swap deal in October 2014, worth 150 billion yuan ($24.5 billion), a move widely viewed as an effort to reduce the dollar's influence in both bilateral and international trade.

The Russian rouble has lost 8.3 percent since the start of the year after a 46 percent slide in 2014.