On 13 October 2009 in Beijing, RZD President Vladimir Yakunin, Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin, and Chinese Minister of Railways Liu Zhijun signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on organizing and developing high-speed and very high-speed rail links on the territory of the Russian Federation.

The purpose of the memorandum is to study and elaborate the issue of cooperation in reconstructing existing rail lines in order to improve speeds, and constructing high-speed and very high-speed routes.
This document is aimed at broadening the Russian-Chinese partnership. In line with the memorandum, a joint working group of qualified specialists from both sides will be created by 1 December 2009.

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On 17 June 2008, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed the Strategy for Developing Rail Transport up to 2030. One of the priority goals in implementing this strategy is to develop high-speed (up to 160 km/h) and very high-speed (up to 350 km/h) passenger rail transportation.

In line with the strategy, the total length of high-speed passenger rail track in Russia will be increased by almost 17 times over the next 20 years, from 650 to 10,887 km. Also, additional trunk lines are planned to be built on various routes, able to carry ordinary freight, passenger trains, and suburban trains, with special tracks for high-speed trains.