China does not recognize this, but it provides military technology to Russia | Federico Rampini

In the official version of BeijingAlthough China has not distanced itself from Putin’s war, it does not supply weapons to Russia’s invasion army.

So far, this role description has held up Xi Jinping, Putin’s “eternal friend” but not to the point of risking US sanctions, was accepted by everyone. Including the Biden administration.

But new data on Russia’s trade with the rest of the world It overshadows the “non-aggressiveness” of the People’s Republic.

In fact It is precisely Chinese companies that provide crucial technologies in the Russian military’s war effort in Ukraine: Semiconductors and microchips It is made in China and can also be used for military purposes, for example Even drones.

the research he did Free Russia Foundation In collaboration with IE-University of Madrid and a group of Russian economists in exileincluding a former executive officer of the Central Bank of Moscow and a former deputy finance minister.

The data is summarized by Wall Street Journal.

To circumvent the opacity of official information from Russia, which stopped publishing import and export statistics last April “to avoid speculation,” the expert task force examined 40 million customs forms, thus reconstructing an accurate picture of economic relations between Russia and the rest of the countries. From the world.

Import and export explosion between Russia and China in 2022This boom in bilateral trade has offset the effects of Western economic sanctions.

Between March and September 2022, its trade increased by $27 billion to nearly $100 billion.

Much of this boom is linked to Russian oil and gas exports to China: These more than make up for the decline in sales to the West.

At the same time, Russia is becoming increasingly dependent on Chinese productsWhich amounted to 36% of its total imports in that period. These include semiconductors, microchips, drones, and all “double-sided” technologies that can be used in the theater of war. Semiconductors are the “electronic intelligence” essential to all modern weapons. Russia managed to circumvent the embargo imposed by the United States and the European Union on semiconductors to the point where Its overseas purchases jumped 34% in 2022. The bulk came from Chinastrictly.

This data is added to other ambiguity signs, such as North Korea’s role as an arms supplier to Russia. As for the Pyongyang regime’s dependence on Chinese aid, without which it cannot survive, it is It is very unlikely that arms supplies could take place without the permission of Xi Jinping.

The latest data on the active development of trade between China and Russia confirm this Doubts about the impact of Western economic sanctions.

At the same time they deny an idea cherished by opponents of sanctions: the argument according to which the West made a strategic mistake by “giving” Russia to China, pushing Putin into the arms of Xi Jinping, thus squeezing and strengthening the sphere’s opponent. But Putin’s “pivot” towards China, also in the economic and financial sphere, dates back at least to 2014 When the $55 billion deal to build the Siberian gas pipeline was signed, it was the first infrastructure of such importance to redirect energy supply flows from west to east, opening up the Chinese market to Russian gas.