The US and Western countries are concerned about China's support for Russia's defense-industrial base, which helps the Russian Federation produce weapons, states US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on June 18.
The head of the State Department noted that the US and Western countries are imposing new sanctions against Russia to stop its aggression against Ukraine.
In addition, Western partners of Kyiv are closely monitoring countries that support the defence-industrial base, thus allowing the Kremlin to continue the war. Primarily, this concerns China. According to Blinken, Beijing does not supply weapons to Russia but provides critically important support to the Russian defense-industrial base.
"So 70% of the machine tools that Russia is importing are coming from China. 90% of the microelectronics coming from China and that has enabled Russia to keep that defence industrial base going, to keep the war machine going to keep the war going. So that has to stop," said the head of American diplomacy.
According to him, the US and the West are also working on confiscating Russian assets in European countries and providing Ukraine with an additional $50 billion in assistance. Blinken reminded that a few days ago, we held a very effective conference on reconstruction, where we discussed other forms of support for Ukraine, including in the energy sector.
China helps Russia and confiscates assets
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has stated that China must stop supporting Russia in the war against Ukraine. Otherwise, sanctions await Beijing.
At the same time, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has called on NATO to stop accusing the country of waging war against Ukraine.
On June 14, the G7 countries decided to provide Ukraine with a $50 billion loan by the end of the year. It will be repaid from the proceeds of Russian assets.
The US Treasury has deemed the use of income from frozen Russian assets in the West to support Ukraine as lawful.