In the initial three months of this year, trade between the Russian Federation and the Brics countries increased by 38% and reached $45 billion, said President Vladimir Putin.
China's imports of oil from Russia in May spiked 55 percent year on year, customs data showed on Monday, with the West sanctioning fuel imports from Moscow because of its invasion of Ukraine.
A NATO summit in Madrid later this month is anticipated to agree an assistance package for Ukraine which will help the country with the move from old Soviet-era weaponry to NATO standard gear, Stoltenberg said earlier this week.
Russia, which is facing severe Western sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine, warned the European Union in April against sweeping sanctions on coal, saying that they would backfire as the fuel would be redirected to other markets.