Security News > 2023 > July > Chinese companies evade sanctions, fuel Moscow’s war on Ukraine, says report
Chinese companies, including state-owned defense companies, are evading tech sanctions and fueling Moscow's war in Ukraine, according to a US report released on Thursday.
"Beijing is pursuing a variety of economic support mechanisms for Russia that mitigate both the impact of Western sanctions and export controls," states the report.
In order to back up its claims, the report cites both Chinese and Western press as saying that many shell companies, as well as small and medium sized businesses with less than 300 employees, in Hong Kong serve as receptacles for secondary sales of chips to Russia.
ODNI also refers to a Japanese media report stating that hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of US made or branded semiconductors are finding their way into Russia, despite sanctions.
It says, United Nations Comtrade database numbers showed that in the first nine months of 2022, PRC semiconductor exports to Russia increased by 19 percent year-on-year, thus at least partially offsetting the entire year's 54 percent decrease in global semiconductor exports to Russia and Belarus.
China has denied mulitple times that its companies are sending equipment to Russia in violation of sanctions.