The EU fears that Chinese and UAE firms could be supplying weapons components to Russia, new sanctions indicate.
China has already backed Russian propaganda on the war in Ukraine while claiming to remain neutral and seek peace.
But the EU’s proposed addition of eight Hong Kong-based Chinese firms to a dual-use goods export ban in the next round of Russia sanctions exposes fears that China has also started giving clandestine military aid.
The companies — Allparts Trading, Alpha Trading Investments, Asia Pacific Links, 3HC Semiconductors, King-Pai Technology, Sigma Technology, Sinno Electronics, and Tordan Industry — make items such as microelectronics for missile guidance systems.
And they’ve been “involved in the circumvention of [EU] trade restrictions” on Russia’s military-industrial complex, according to a European Commission document seen by EUobserver.
The EU is planning to add UAE-based I Jet Global and Success Aviation Services to the dual-use ban.
It also named 10 Iranian, Syrian, and Uzbek firms — in a thumbnail sketch of the global pro-Russian axis.
Two graphs and one map show that Russia is not currently winning the war (Ukraine Battlefield update, Day 1,706)
Andrew Rettman