China and Türkiye supply Russia with EU-sanctioned goods

    "Since the beginning of the Ukraine conflict, European companies have no longer been allowed to deliver certain goods to Russia. But an evaluation suggests that the sanctions are being circumvented - especially through China and Turkey.

 

     EU exports to Russia have fallen by two thirds since the start of the Ukraine conflict. According to an evaluation by the Ifo Institute on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Economics, many of the sanctioned EU goods could be delivered to Russia via China, Turkey and other countries.

 

     Due to the export restrictions of the EU and other Western countries, a third of the sanctioned products are missing in Russia. The most important alternative country of origin for this is China, the Ifo Institute announced on Tuesday: "Russia imports 61 percent of the sanctioned products from China, almost twice as much as in 2021."

 

     13 percent of all products sanctioned by the West come to Russia from Turkey; In 2021 it was almost 3 percent." Russia now sources 1 percent of all sanctioned goods from Armenia. In the same period, exports from the EU to Armenia have doubled.

 

     "In the case of China, increasing exports to Russia can be at least partly explained by stronger domestic production," said Feodora Teti, deputy head of the Ifo Center for Foreign Trade. 

 

"In the case of Turkey and Armenia, however, the sudden and sharp increase in exports to Russia raises suspicions of sanctions evasion." [1]

 

This should have been expected from the very beginning of the sanctions against Russia - that the sanctions would not affect Russia. These sanctions have fueled inflation in the US, destroying US President Biden's popularity. These sanctions doubled the price of energy in Germany. Germans cannot compete in world markets, this causes the de-industrialization of Germany and, linked to Germany, Lithuania. German Chancellor Scholz's popularity has fallen below the threshold. Lithuanian conservatives are looking for a place to calm down before the elections this year. The French government flew out of power together with the geese. We will wait for the further reaction of the voters to the campaign of the sanction makers.

 

1. China und Türkei liefern Russland von EU sanktionierte Waren. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (online) Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung GmbH. Jan 9, 2024.