Reid Standish
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, June 26, 2022
“China is eager to capitalize on Russia’s isolation, including purchasing Russian cheap crude oil. But when it comes to violating Western sanctions, the Chinese private sector is usually quite cautious.”
China’s growing appetite for discounted Russian oil has made it the leading financier of the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine by giving Moscow a reliable revenue source that blunts the impact of tough Western sanctions against its economy.
Four months after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, China has overtaken Germany as the biggest single buyer of Russian energy, with oil sales to China — and India, another energy-hungry Asian nation — helping to fill a gap left by Europe, Russia’s biggest export market.
China and India have together bought an estimated 2.4 million barrels of Russian crude oil a day in May, half of Russia’s total exports.
Despite being sold at a steep discount, the purchases — along with climbing oil prices — have allowed Russian revenues to grow in the face of Western pressure and given Moscow a crucial financial lifeline to keep funding its war effort.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Reid Standish is an RFE/RL correspondent in Prague and author of the China In Eurasia briefing. He focuses on Chinese foreign policy in Eastern Europe and Central Asia and has reported extensively about China’s Belt and Road Initiative and Beijing’s internment camps in Xinjiang. Prior to joining RFE/RL, Reid was an editor at Foreign Policy magazine and its Moscow correspondent. He has also written for The Atlantic and The Washington Post.
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