Trucks are military indispensable. They transport soldiers to the front, but also medicine, food, fuel and ammunition. Russia’s demand for trucks almost doubled in the first nine months of 2023 compared to the same period last year. How do you recognize that? While there were around 6,000 registrations per month in Russia before the invasion of Ukraine and the corona pandemic in 2019, the number has recently increased to more than 14,000, according to an analysis by the data service provider Barkow Consulting.
However, Russian production capacities were unable to cope with this surge in demand. At the same time, Western manufacturers said goodbye to the Russian market from March 2022. So where did Russia get all these trucks from? Answer: “China has completely compensated for the additional demand and the losses caused by the sanctions within a year,” says Barkow Consulting, whose experts have evaluated a report from the Russian Central Bank.
While the Russian central bank cites “larger infrastructure projects” and the “overloaded railway” as the reason for the surge in demand, the real reason is likely to be more military in nature. Early in the invasion of Ukraine, there were reports that the Russian military was missing trucks. Then the numbers started increasing. The data shows that before Russian troops invaded Ukraine, China delivered almost no trucks to Russia – but increasingly since then.
China’s banks lend money to Russia
Officially, China’s leadership has always described itself as “neutral” in this conflict. But the impression is different. “While the People’s Republic of China still does not supply weapons directly to Russia, it does provide materials and equipment that help support Russia’s war and occupation of Ukrainian territory,” write Experts | the Atlantic Council think tank.
There is also support from China for the Russian financial sector: Chinese banks made significantly more money available after the start of the war. After Western institutions broke off their business relationships, China’s lending to Russia is said to have almost quadrupled. The US intelligence community reports that Russia and China are increasingly conducting their trade in the Chinese currency Yuan and national payment systems. In this way, Russia wants to avoid Western controls and sanctions.
The economic ostracism of Russia therefore often comes to nothing. The ongoing exports of raw materials provide Moscow with stable income, including from China. Overall, that’s it report According to the US secret services, despite Western sanctions and export controls, China supplies enough goods that the Russian army uses in Ukraine. An example is ball bearings. They are an important part of tanks. Russia had met its needs in the West before 2022. Now they are coming Ball bearing imports from China.