Trade between Russia and China is becoming increasingly difficult, with some payments between partners taking up to six months, the Kommersant business daily reported on Monday.
About 80% of bank transfers made in Chinese yuan are also being rejected without explanation, after being blocked for weeks while banks decide whether they can continue, according to Kommersant, citing unnamed sources.
Such returns may result in exchange rate or commission losses for Russian companies, the media outlet said.
The Kommersant report highlights the intensification of pressure on external parties dealing with Russian companies that have managed to maintain their international business activities despite sweeping sanctions.
Earlier this month, several major Russian commodity exporters, whose names were not disclosed, said: Bloomberg that trade with China became increasingly difficult, as even direct payments made in Chinese yuan were frozen or delayed.
The unrest began in December when the United States authorized secondary sanctions targeting financial institutions that help Russia circumvent sanctions.
That has prompted global banks from China to the United Arab Emirates to Turkey to Austria to scale back their dealings with Russia to avoid being in the crosshairs.
Payment The problems were exacerbated last month when the U.S. Treasury launched a new program US sanctions extended against Russia, forcing the Moscow Exchange — Russia’s main stock exchange — to suspend dollar and euro trade.
To circumvent the increasingly strict restrictions, some Russians who want to buy goods from Chinese companies now have to go through intermediaries, which incurs additional costs, according to Kommersant.
The United States and its allies punish those who deal with Russia
The case comes 29 months after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
To force Russia to stop its war, the West blocked some Russian banks The SWIFT messaging system, widely used for payments at the start of the conflict, has, however, allowed Russia and its trading partners to circumvent sanctions by using smaller banks and other payment methods or currencies other than the US dollar.
Continued trade activity between the two countries helped Russia-China trade hit a record $240 billion last year. In June, China’s yuan-denominated exports to Russia increased 4.76 percent from a year earlier.
Beijing has not condemned Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine or sanctioned Russia. The two countries are not formally allies but have a long and complex relationship that has strengthened in recent years.
Despite this, the United States and its allies have stepped up restrictions.
Earlier this month, a top Russian banker said that sanctions evasion methods should be considered a “state secret” because they are being quickly dismantled.
“Whatever measures we take, we see that the reaction is very fast,” said Andrei Kostin, CEO of VTB Bank, Russia’s second-largest lender.
Russia has declared that it working with a group of countries to build a platform that doesn’t need the dollar.
Some Russian companies have also used cryptocurrencies with settlements made through Hong Kong, but through Central Asian intermediaries, Bloomberg reported last week.
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