China has restricted the export of mid-tier precision machine tools to Russia, industry insiders say, in an apparent success for U.S. secondary sanctions aimed at weakening Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine.
Why It Matters
Chinese trade with Russia—particularly oil and gas—has helped buoy Russia’s sanctioned-strapped economy since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Yet, many Chinese firms have shown they are not immune to Western pressure designed to erode Russia’s war-fighting capacity. Russian importers have reported growing difficulty making transactions with Chinese banks since last year, and exports of dual civilian-military goods to China’s neighbor have also increasingly encountered hangups.
Newsweek reached out to the Russian and Chinese foreign ministries via emailed requests for comment.
What To Know
According to MashTekh, a Russian industrial technology outlet that tracks domestic manufacturing, China has curbed the export of machine tools capable of 3- to 4-micron precision—critical for production of missile and engine components and precision-guided systems.
“The PRC has restricted the supply of high-tech equipment, although this is rarely discussed publicly,” Ildar Nuriev, owner of the Russian machine-tool company Tatpromstan, told MashTekh. “If before it was possible to obtain machines with an accuracy of 3 to 4 microns, now it’s no longer possible. You have to obtain a special export license.”
The curbs come amid an overall cooling in China-Russia trade after years of record bilateral flows. Chinese exports to Russia fell 16.4 percent year-on-year in August—double the drop recorded in July—according to Chinese customs data.
Total bilateral trade was down nearly 9 percent in the first eight months of 2025, at 1.03 trillion yuan ($142 billion). Both exports from both respective partners shrank by more than 8 percent.
China has also scaled back purchases of Russian raw materials, including an 11-percent decline in oil imports and a 13-percent drop in liquefied natural gas between January and May, The Moscow Times reported, citing data from the Gaidar Institute think tank.
What People Have Said
Ildar Nuriev, owner of Tatpromstan, was quoted by MashTekh: “In two years, it became clear to me that you can be friends with everyone, but you need to count on yourself.”
Jurgen Nauditt, a pro-Ukraine user, wrote on the X social media platform, “China’s move is pragmatic, not ideological – it is protecting its own interests while isolating russia. The “unlimited partnership” is turning out to be limited, and this could tip the Ukraine war in the long run.”
What’s Next
Neither the Chinese nor the Russian governments has issued a public statement on the restrictions. It remains to be seen how severely they will affect Russian military production or push the country to increase reliance on other foreign suppliers.