Ukraine’s western allies have warned of “severe costs” for countries helping Russia evade sanctions as concern mounts about China’s role in Moscow’s war economy and the conflict enters its second year.
Washington announced fresh sanctions on Friday against more than 200 entities “across Europe, Asia and the Middle East that are supporting Russia’s war effort” and banned five Chinese groups from acquiring US technology.
In co-ordinated steps ahead of a virtual G7 meeting with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the UK also unveiled sanctions, while the EU and Japan finalised their own trade bans.
“We call on third countries or other international actors who seek to evade or undermine our measures to cease providing material support to Russia’s war, or face severe costs,” the G7 leaders said after the summit.
“To deter this activity around the world, we are taking actions against third-country actors materially supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine.”
Previous waves of sanctions have cut off Moscow from legally accessing western finance, technology and vast swaths of the global economy but Kyiv’s allies have become alarmed that such measures are being circumvented by trade with China and countries in Russia’s neighbourhood.
The G7 leaders added they were “committed to coordinating efforts to meet Ukraine’s pressing military and defence equipment needs, with an immediate focus on air defence systems and capabilities, as well as necessary munitions and tanks”.
The US announced $2bn in military aid for Kyiv, including ammunition and electronic warfare detection equipment as the war passed its first anniversary on Friday with no sign of Russian let-up despite a series of military failures.
“Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia,” said US president Joe Biden. “Brutality will never grind down the will of the free.”
Washington is increasingly concerned about support for Moscow from Beijing, which has stepped in to replace western countries as a critical supplier of external technology, and has warned China against providing weapons to Russia.
“We have not seen actual delivery of lethal aid, but what we have seen are signs and indications that China may be planning and considering to supply military aid to Russia,” said Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg. “China should not do that, because that would be to support an illegal war of aggression and breach international law.”
Beijing released a 12-point paper on a “political settlement” to the war on Friday although western leaders accuse it of taking Russia’s side.
Zelenskyy said: “I want to believe that China is not going to provide weapons to Russia. I’m doing my best to prevent that from happening . . . because there’s this risk of the third world war.”
In a sign of the new focus on sanctions evasion, the US blacklisted 86 groups from Russia, China and other countries from buying US technology. The companies include China Head Aerospace Technology, which provides systems to process data from satellites.
The White House added that G7 nations would keep Russia’s sovereign assets “immobilised” until there was a resolution to the conflict that addressed its “violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and integrity”, a move designed to ensure that Moscow pays for Ukraine’s long-term reconstruction.
Other US sanctions unveiled on Friday hit more than a dozen Russian banks, defence producers and its entire metals and mining industry as Washington sought to “further degrade Russia’s economy and diminish its ability to wage war against Ukraine”.
The groups targeted include Burevestnik Central Scientific Research Institute, a Russian arms and artillery manufacturer; OOO Metallurg-Tulamash, a steel manufacturer that the US says makes arms for the Russian navy; and several banks simultaneously hit with sanctions by the UK.
The UK said it had banned exports of “every item Russia has been found using on the battlefield”. London also joined the US in imposing sanctions on Russia’s MTS Bank, which recently gained a licence to operate in United Arab Emirates.
In Brussels, EU ambassadors were finalising the bloc’s 10th round of sanctions, a package set to include curbs on exports of electronic components used in Russian drones, missiles and helicopters.
Additional reporting by Felicia Schwartz in Washington, Sam Fleming in Brussels, Kana Inagaki in Tokyo and Maxine Kelly in London