Not even China will loan money to Russia.

Moscow has been engaged in "long term" discussions with Beijing but has been so far unable to strike a deal with Beijing in securing loans in the Chinese currency, the yuan, Russia's finance minister has said.

The comments by Anton Siluanov come as Russia seeks to pivot away from the West due to sanctions imposed by its full-scale invasion of Ukraine which has led to a huge boom in trade with China.

Momentum from Moscow to secure yuan loans has been gathering pace since 2014 when Russia's relationship with the West plummeted following Vladimir Putin's illegal annexation of Crimea.

So far, there has been little progress, and in September 2022, Russia's deputy finance minister, Timur Maksimov, said no agreement had been reached between the countries on such a move.

Moscow has been hoping to attract money from Chinese investors to offset Western capital which has disappeared due to the sanctions, but Siluanov told state news agency RIA on Monday that no agreement had yet been reached.

"Negotiations with Chinese partners have been going on for a long time," Siluanov said. "So far, there is no decision."

The latest round of talks between the countries took place at the end of last year, Siluanov said, without specifying whether progress had been made.

Newsweek reached out to the Russian Finance Ministry for comment.

Trade between Russia and China hit a record high in 2023, but there are cracks in the relationship with the main Chinese institution used by Russian importers, Zhejiang Chouzhou Commercial Bank, stopping operations in Russia for fear of breaking United States-led sanctions.