China has imposed new sanctions on the supply of equipment and chemicals to Russia.

China is making it more difficult for Russian businesses to procure machinery, equipment, and chemicals from the country. Starting December 1, an expanded list of dual-use goods subject to export control will come into effect in the PRC, reports Russian media citing foreign trade experts.

In particular, the updated list will include IT equipment, such as servers and components, which are already challenging to import into Russia, they note.

Argon gas for welding will also fall under restrictions. Currently, only the volumes that were agreed upon and paid for earlier are being shipped, while contracts for future deliveries are not being concluded for now.

According to the new regulations, a 25% tax will be imposed on Chinese companies exporting dual-use products to Russia. However, there is no information about this in the official announcements from the Chinese side.

At the same time, importing goods into Russia via third countries will also be problematic: China’s export control applies to all shipments abroad. Now, Chinese exporters must provide information about the final recipient of the goods, in addition to obtaining a special license. This will significantly worsen the situation regarding payment transactions.

The new rules may indicate that the United States has managed to influence China, and now the export of important products to Russia will be considerably complicated, if not completely halted, experts say. Thus, China is demonstrating to the U.S. that it is preventing the misuse of sensitive technologies and materials for non-peaceful purposes.

Earlier, Chinese companies began refusing direct shipments of their products to Russia and started demanding that imports be redirected to third countries. This applied to goods that fell under the blacklist codes related to foreign economic activity, such as electronics.

Before this, trade between Russia and China had already become complicated due to Chinese banks refusing to accept payments from Russian companies.

This occurred following the introduction of the 12th package of EU sanctions against Russia and an executive order from U.S. President Joe Biden, which allowed the U.S. Treasury to impose restrictions on third-country banks cooperating with and assisting the Russian military-industrial complex, as well as sanctioned companies.

However, despite all of this, according to the General Administration of Customs of China, the trade turnover between China and Russia increased by 1.6% from January to June this year compared to the same period in 2023, amounting to $136.67 billion.