China Is 'Dominant' Provider of Controlled Items to Russia, Report Says

Russian customs data shows the country’s sanctioned defense companies are buying navigation equipment, jamming technology, jet-fighter parts and more from China, The Wall Street Journal reported Feb. 4. Russia has imported tens of thousands of shipments of dual-use goods since its invasion of Ukraine last year, most of them from China, the report said. Although the U.S. and other Western nations have imposed strict export controls on technology to stop sensitive items from being sent to Russia, Moscow is able to sustain its military needs through countries that haven’t joined the U.S.-led sanctions effort, the report said, including Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. But Chinese companies are the “dominant exporters” of dual-use items to Russia, the report said.

A spokesperson for China’s embassy in Washington said the country isn’t supporting Russia’s military. “The allegation that China provides ‘aid’ to Russia has no factual basis, but is purely speculative and deliberately hyped up,” Liu Pengyu told The WSJ. The U.S. has taken several steps to sanction Chinese companies for assisting Russia’s war efforts, including new sanctions last month against a China-based technology institute (see 2301260023). The Commerce Department in June added several Chinese entities to the Entity List for helping Moscow evade U.S. export controls (see 2206280056).