Russia Holds Back Chinese Rail Cargo, Fuels Speculation Over Sanction Evasion

The logo of China Railway Express, a unit of China's state-run China Railway Corporation, on shipping containers at a rail freight depot in London on Jan. 18, 2017, after the freight train arrived from Yiwu in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang. Niklas Halle'n/AFP via Getty Images

Russia has been holding Chinese railway cargo shipments on the China–Europe Railway Express since late October 2024, with thousands of containers being detained, according to recent Chinese media reports.

Observers say the situation is related to Western sanctions on Russia, and that there’s more to it than meets the eye.

Chinese media outlet Caixin reported on Jan. 27 that in recent months, Chinese cargo bound for Europe on the China–Europe Railway Express has been detained by Russian authorities, citing Chinese logistics industry insiders.

More than 1,000 containers have been detained by the Russian authorities, Caixin reported.

This comes after the Russian government’s Oct. 15, 2024, decree No. 1374, which expanded the list of goods prohibited from transiting through Russia in Order No. 313, issued on March 9, 2022, adding mechanical and electronic products and camouflage clothing, mainly targeting dual-use military and civilian items.

Sun Kuo-hsiang, professor of international affairs and business at Nanhua University in Taiwan, said the China–Europe Railway Express is an important transportation route for China–Europe trade. “Particularly so for high value-added products, such as electronics, mechanical parts, and auto parts,” Sun told The Epoch Times on Jan. 29.

Sun said that a reason why Russia seized the cargo on the China–Europe Railway Express may be that it is worried that these goods will eventually flow to Ukraine.

“Another reason is to retaliate against the European Union’s sanctions on it [for its invasion of Ukraine] and to put pressure on China not to cooperate with the West,” he said.

The European Union and the United States have increased sanctions on Russia as the Russia–Ukraine war continues and have warned China not to provide military civil dual-use equipment to the Russians. The Chinese communist regime has been the primary supporter of Russia’s war effort since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Bypassing International Sanctions?

U.S.-based economist Davy J. Wong noted that so far, there is no information about any European buyer saying that their goods shipped from China via China–Europe Railway Express have been detained by Russia.

“There have been more than a thousand containers detained, and it’s been happening for months, but they keep on shipping goods that way,” Wong told The Epoch Times on Jan. 29.

The goods being detained are mostly military, civil dual-use materials, and some civilian materials that also have potential military value, he said.

Wong said that he believes this is a way that China bypasses international sanctions on Russia.

“These goods were possibly purchased by a shell company in Europe, shipped to Russia, and then seized in Russia. The Chinese regime is supplying military, civil dual-use products to Russia in this way,” he said.

“Then China can say that it was not our intention to provide dual-use products to Russia; they were seized by Russia [to avoid being held accountable for violating the international sanctions].

“It’s obvious that China and Russia are putting on a show for the international community.”

Luo Ya contributed to this report.