China does not seem to be helping Russia with the Western financial sanctions on Moscow over its aggression in Ukraine, a senior Biden Administration official has said. “The latest time suggests that China’s not coming to the rescue,” the official said during a conference call on Saturday, according to Sputnik News Agency. “I think it was reported… that China was actually restricting some of its banks to provide credit to facilitate energy purchases from Russia, which suggests that much like has been the pattern for years and years, China has tended to respect the force of US sanctions,” the official said further.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Embassy in Russia shared a “US bombing list” posted by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian on Twitter on Saturday, saying “Never forget who’s the real threat to the world.” The list includes all the countries that have been targeted by the US since the end of WWII. These countries represent roughly one-third of the people on Earth, Sputnik reported.
On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized Ukraine’s breakaway regions – Donetsk and Luhansk – as independent entities. Later, Putin ordered special military operations “to protect” the people in the Donbas region.
Several countries including the UK, the US, Canada, and the European Union have condemned Russia’s military operations and imposed sanctions on Moscow.
On Saturday, the United Kingdom, the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, and the United States agreed on additional sanctions over the Ukraine crisis. According to the US administration official, the EU is in the process of finalizing the list of Russian banks that will be excluded from SWIFT.
