Hundreds of thousands of cars are flowing from China to Russia. The “gray market” is blooming
According to Reuters data based on interviews with people familiar with the “gray market” between China and Russia, the practice of making it easier to sell cars while bypassing sanctions is increasingly developing. New cars in China are registered as used, without mileage, so that they do not require manufacturers' consent for sale. In Russia, they are already sold as new and for correspondingly high prices. Zhang Ai Jun, a former exporter from China, told Reuters that this method greatly facilitates exports and enables quick sale of surpluses.
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700 thousand cars sold in Russia despite sanctions
China is the main channel for car sales to Russia. Russians want to drive Mercedes, BMW and Toyota, which is why these brands are sold there the most. The producers themselves strongly reject this practice. Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Volkswagen have announced that they prohibit sales to Russia and are doing everything to prevent unauthorized exports. However, checking for possible violations is “complicated and time-consuming.”
In 2025, over 130,000 were sold in Russia. cars coming from countries that have imposed sanctions on Russia. Some of them were produced in Chinese factories owned by foreign companies. Since the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, a total of 700,000 have been sold. vehicles of foreign brands – reports Reuters, based on Autostat data. Toyotas and Mazdas constitute a large part of sales, and trade in cars from Germany is also growing. Sebastian Bennink, a sanctions expert at European law firm Bennink Dunin-Wasowicz, told Reuters that “there are so many ways to bypass sanctions” that it is “almost impossible to stop.”
See also: This is how Europe fights against Russia's evasion of sanctions. In the case of this country it did not work
The German Ministry of Economy announced that it regularly investigates sanctions violations and cooperates with partners from other EU countries for this purpose. A similar ministry in Japan refused to comment on the sale of Japanese cars in Russia. South Korea's Commerce Ministry stressed that it is working to prevent the evasion of export controls and is tightening its actions against indirect car exports to Russia. China's Commerce Ministry and Russia's Ministry of Industry and Trade did not respond to requests for comment.
