The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, and Bank of China have stopped the transactions since the start of 2024, Alexey Poroshin, the general director of investment and consulting firm First Group, told Izvestia. In December, the US also authorized secondary sanctions targeting financial institutions that help Russia skirt sanctions. Chinese banks are tightening compliance checks with Russian businesses because they fear getting caught up in the West's increasingly restrictive sanctions regime against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, and Bank of China did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. In particular, Russian firms trading internationally have become more dependent on Chinese institutions and the Chinese yuan since some Russian banks withdrew from the SWIFT global financial-messaging system .

---

Persons: —, Alexey Poroshin, Poroshin, Dmitry Peskov Organizations: Russia, Service, Commercial Bank of, China Construction Bank, Bank of, First Group, Union, Industrial, Bank of China, Business, SWIFT Locations: Russia, Commercial Bank of China, China, Bank of China, —, Ukraine, India, West, Beijing