Yellen says China moves aren’t diluting Russia sanctions sting

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she doesn’t believe China’s actions toward Russia are meaningfully undermining the impact of U.S. and European sanctions over the war in Ukraine.

“China does buy Russian oil, but I think that our sanctions are limiting Russia’s ability to sell to China and other countries,” Yellen said Thursday in an interview webcast on Washington Post Live.

The Treasury chief said Chinese financial institutions that deal in dollar and euro transactions were behaving in a “risk-averse” manner, and trying to avoid violating sanctions.

“So I don’t think what China is doing is meaningfully offsetting or lessening the pressure from the sanctions that we’ve put in place,” Yellen said.

China hasn’t joined in sanctioning Russia’s economy over its neighbor’s invasion of Ukraine, and has instead examined tightening its economic ties. Beijing is considering buying or increasing stakes in Russian energy and commodities companies, such as gas giant Gazprom PJSC and aluminum producer United Co. Rusal International PJSC, people familiar with the matter said earlier this week.

Europe’s Energy

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo earlier this week vowed to vigorously enforce export controls on Russia and said the U.S. would be on guard against Chinese semiconductor companies that might try to get around the sanctions.

Yellen also said Thursday that she doesn’t expect European countries to follow the U.S. in banning imports of Russian fuels, citing the region’s dependence on Russian fossil fuels.

“We recognize that not all countries are in the same position in terms of their ability to cut off shipments of oil and gas from Russia,” she said.

Yellen also reiterated that the Biden administration is prepared for further steps against Russia amid the continuing invasion.