US Intel report says, China is providing technology & equipment to Russia

According to a report from the Director of National Intelligence of the United States, China is providing technology and equipment to Russia, which is engaged in war with Ukraine.

China has surpassed Western nations as Russia’s main commercial partner after trade with them declined in 2022, according to a report titled “Support provided by the People’s Republic of China to Russia”. As claimed by the sources, customs records reveal that PRC state-owned defense firms are transferring fighter jet parts, navigational equipment, and jamming technologies to authorized Government-owned defense firms.

Russia has always acquired chips through circuitous routes, with a large portion flowing through small traders in Hong Kong and the mainland PRC. Russian imports from China increased by 13 percent to USD 76 billion in 2022, and its exports to the PRC increased by 43 percent to USD 114 billion, with total bilateral trade between the PRC and Russia hitting a high-level record of USD 190 billion in 2022, which is a 30 percent increase from 2021.

Moscow is looking for vessels for exports after a G-7 oil price cap banned the use of Western Cargo services and insurance. China is offering supertankers and insurance coverage to transfer Russian Urals petroleum to PRC ports.

The extent to which the PRC has assisted Russia in dodging and avoiding sanctions and export restrictions is extremely difficult to prove. According to PRC companies participating in the exports, Russia has turned to the PRC for essential components, offering some degree of protection against the negative impacts of sanctions and export regulations.

Earlier, the US President Joe Biden-led administration repeatedly raised concerns with China over its companies selling non-lethal equipment to Russia for use in Ukraine, but US officials say they have seen no signs that China has provided weapons or lethal military aid to Russia so far, as per CNN.

The US believes that at the outset of the war, China intended to sell Russia lethal weapons for use in Ukraine, as a US official previously told CNN. But China significantly scaled back on those plans as the war progressed.