The European Union has expanded the list of sanctions against Russia. Brussels has decided to apply sanctions against companies and individuals that cooperate with Russia in one way or another. In this series, for the first time, there are legal and natural persons of China.

Axar.az reports that this was stated in the "Atlas" Research Center analysis.

It was noted that the EU avoided punishing China for cooperation with Russia until the last moment. But Brussels has changed its policy:

"Brussels believes that Ukraine may be defeated if decisive steps are not taken against Russia and the Kremlin's strategic partners. Brussels has targeted Russian-Chinese cooperation. There are 7 Chinese companies on the sanctions list. This number may increase in the future. These companies cooperate closely with Russia. One of the EU officials said in a statement to the "Guardian" newspaper that the Kremlin is trying to use loopholes to eliminate the economic and trade sanctions of the EU. Brussels has decided to block all loopholes that allow Russia to circumvent sanctions. One of the gaps is that Russia trades with European countries through companies from different countries. "Russia needs quality products and technologies."

The analysis emphasized that the United States and Great Britain supported the decision of Brussels:

"The EU has warned Beijing several times about cooperation with Russia. For example, in December of last year, the head of the EU Council, Charles Michel, who met with the Chinese leader Xi Jinping, said that a group of Chinese companies helped Russia evade sanctions. Michel hoped that Beijing would heed this warning to dissuade Chinese companies from mysterious cooperation with Russia. Since this did not happen, Brussels was forced to take decisive steps.

Beijing strongly criticized Brussels' decision. Beijing called EU sanctions against Chinese companies against international law. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement and announced that it will protect the interests of its companies. Nevertheless, China has not yet decided whether it will take adequate measures against European companies. It is harmful for Beijing to strain relations with Brussels. In 2022, the volume of trade between China and the EU amounted to 1.6 trillion dollars. This is 8 times more than China's trade with Russia."