Such a mechanism becomes more and more in demand against the background of sanctions pressure and refusal of Chinese banks to accept Russian payments due to the risk of secondary restrictions, the publication says.
The sanctions of the USA, the EU and the Allies – more than 25 thousand measures since 2014 – limited Russia's access to world finance and technologies. Swiff disconnecting and strict warnings of Beijing enhanced risk for direct transactions. In response to the Ministry of Economy of the Russian Federation in 2024, the “Guide to foreign barter transactions” issued, offering companies to use natural exchange and even create a barter exchange.
Until recently, there were practically no signs of commercial interest in such transactions, the publication notes. However, last month Reuters reported that the Chinese company Hainan Longpan Oilfield Technology Co. He seeks to trade steel and aluminum alloys in exchange for ship engines.
Reuters revealed eight similar transactions, including the exchange of Russian wheat for Chinese cars and linen seeds for household appliances. In other transactions, metals were supplied to China in exchange for cars, Chinese services exchanged for raw materials, and the Russian importer bought aluminum to pay for the Chinese company. One deal was concluded with Pakistan. In one of the operations, the cost was estimated at about $ 100 thousand. Barter also allows you to import Western goods in the Russian Federation, despite sanctions, although the volumes are difficult to track.
According to the agency, the discrepancy between the statistics of the Central Bank and Customs over the first half of 2025 reached $ 7 billion.
Historically, Barter had already undermined the Russian economy in the 1990s, creating complicated schemes and opportunities for fraud, Reuters notes. Today it is again in demand, although the business also uses cryptocurrencies, cash, offsetting and accounts in different banks.
Context
Sanctions against Russia were introduced in response to its attack on Ukraine back in 2014. After a full -scale invasion of Russian troops on February 24, 2022, restrictions were significantly expanded.
According to the global database on the monitoring of Castellum sanctions, from the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian aggressor country at the end of February 2022 to Ukraine, the EU countries, as well as other states, were imposed on the Russian Federation more than 23.9 thousand restrictions. In general, since 2014, when the Russian Federation occupied Crimea and part of the territory of Donbass – about 26.6 thousand.
