Russia's central bank governor said on Tuesday that Russia and China were close to reaching an agreement on conducting swap operations in ruble and yuan to enhance bilateral trade.

"We are at a rather advanced stage of working through the question about ruble-yuan swaps to facilitate trade finance," Elvira Nabiullina said on the sidelines of a central bank conference in St. Petersburg.

"A meeting is planned in China next week, and we will continue to discuss (the matter)," she said.