Exports of Chinese goods to Russia have plummeted since the launch of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine, despite Beijing refusing to join Western sanctions against Moscow. This is stated in a study published on Monday by the Washington Institute of World Economics. Peterson. At the same time, according to American experts, imports from Russia to China, primarily oil and gas, on the contrary, rose to record levels.

“Exports of goods to Russia have declined significantly, and not only from countries that are in the coalition of those who have imposed sanctions, but, surprisingly, also from countries that have refused to impose sanctions - primarily from China,” the institute said. "After the European Union, China has made the second largest contribution to the decline in exports to Russia since the beginning of the invasion [of Ukraine]," the experts said.

According to the authors of the study, the decline in exports from China to the Russian Federation is explained by the reluctance of Chinese companies to fall under the secondary sanctions of the West, which would deprive them of access to Western markets and technologies. "Chinese exporters seem to have taken into account the risks of violating export controls and sanctions," the report said. "China's behavior reflects this risk. Its exports to Russia since the beginning of the invasion have fallen by 38% compared to the second half of 2021. This is in line with the average for countries that have not imposed sanctions," the experts explained.

At the same time, in their opinion, the decline is also explained by the fact that exports from China to the Russian Federation were reduced by foreign transnational corporations operating there. “The factor forcing China to abide by sanctions imposed by the West is that foreign multinational corporations account for half of China’s exports. These corporations must be included in the global economy and, presumably, they receive instructions not from Beijing, but from their own headquarters. apartments located in countries that have imposed sanctions," American economists also believe. At the same time, they emphasize that in their calculations they could not single out from the total amount the part that falls precisely on foreign companies in the PRC. "However, it is clear that foreign multinational corporations are not the only factor influencing [China's] compliance with the sanctions," they said.