According to American analysts, China can help Russia to circumvent sanctions through the mediation of Belarus thanks to agreements signed by Alexander Lukashenko during a visit to Beijing on March 1.
President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping is going to discuss with the President of the Russian Federation a mechanism for circumventing sanctions restrictions during his visit to Russia. This is discussed in the report of the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) dated March 17.
Analysts noted that according to the statement of the Russian side, Beijing and Moscow are going to sign bilateral documents of unknown content and discuss partnership issues during Xi Jinping’s stay in Russia from March 20 to 22 in Russia.
According to the authors of the report, the Chinese leader is interested in maintaining the image of a neutral mediator between the Russian Federation and Ukraine in matters of ending the war. This topic may be the subject of discussion at the upcoming meeting.
Xi may try to turn his success in mediating the restoration of diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia into a larger effort to mediate this war.
Western intelligence agencies have previously noted that China does not rule out supplying the Russian army with weapons.
In addition, the Russian Federation has already received rifles, spare parts for UAVs and other equipment that can be used for military purposes from Chinese companies.
Xi is likely planning to discuss sanctions circumvention schemes with Putin and Russian officials to support the sale and delivery of Chinese equipment to Russia.
American analysts suggest that China may be helping Russia to circumvent Western sanctions through the mediation of Belarus. This, presumably, can be facilitated by the agreements signed by Alexander Lukashenko during his visit to Beijing on March 1.
Recall that on March 16, Daniel Rice, adviser to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny, said that China is unlikely to transfer weapons to the Russian Armed Forces for the war in Ukraine, as it “does not want to join the idiots.”
Earlier, on March 3, we also wrote that Beijing was unhappy with Moscow because of the leakage of information about the discussion of arms supplies and its further publication in the American media. China is concerned that this could harm its image as a neutral broker.
