Bank of China enforces sanctions against Russia more strictly than necessary

The situation is especially hopeless with the goods with the code TN VED 88 – these are aircraft and space vehicles, as well as their parts.

“This area is all sanctioned. No one will even try to pay for the delivery of such goods to Russia from China,” said a source in the aviation industry.

Problems are also likely to arise in the payment of goods with the code TN VED 84. This is equipment for the production of all types of machine tools, electronics and computer engineering, as well as their parts.

“Not all products of this category are on the sanctions lists, but our practice shows that most Chinese banks, especially the biggest banks, are now suspending or postponing all payments related to code 84 goods. Some payments “go through”, but this is most likely due to some failures on the Chinese side,” explains the representative of the Russian foreign trade operator.

Similar problems have been observed with goods of codes 85 and 90. The first of them is electronics and computer equipment, transformers, generators, as well as recording equipment and telephones. The second group – optical, photographic, cinematographic devices, measuring and medical instruments and apparatus.

Paying for smartphones directly is currently a very big risk-taking activity for China, although only a part of this production is sanctioned – the most expensive devices. A major Russian bank says that it will soon be impossible to make payments for any kind of electronics, because the money still “gets stuck somewhere and doesn’t reach its destination.”