(Brussels) Nineteen Chinese companies, including a global giant in the satellite industry, were added on Monday by the Twenty-Seven to a list of companies with which EU companies can no longer trade, as part of sanctions adopted following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
These China-based companies, including several in Hong Kong, are included in the list published in the Official Journal of the EU. Westerners constantly accuse Beijing of supporting the Russian war effort, which China denies.
The 14th package of sanctions against Russia, formally endorsed by EU member states on Monday, adds a total of 61 new companies to the list of entities accused of “directly supporting the Russian military-industrial complex” in the war in Ukraine.
These companies are subject to strict trade restrictions on “dual-use goods and technologies (both civilian and military) or those that could contribute to the technological development of the Russian defense sector.” A total of 675 companies are now on the list.
Among the newly added companies are two major players in the Chinese satellite industry involved in selling satellites and supplying satellite images to the Russian mercenary group Wagner.
In October, an AFP investigation revealed the existence of a contract dating from November 2022 by which the company Beijing Yunze Technology Co. Ltd had sold two satellites for around $31 million to a company in the boss’s galaxy of the Wagner paramilitary group, Evgeni Prigozhin.
The two very high resolution observation satellites belonged to Chang Guang Satellite Technology (CGST), one of the world’s largest space players in terms of technological level and number of satellites: this was sanctioned on Monday by the EU .
Another targeted company, the satellite image broker Head Aerospace Technology: this Chinese group had already been affected in 2023 by retaliatory measures from the United States, among “80 entities and individuals” accused by Washington of “facilitating Russian aggression” in Ukraine.
Head Aerospace Technology was then described as having “provided satellite imagery of Ukrainian sites to entities affiliated” with Wagner.
If China does not directly supply weapons to Russia, the United States accuses Chinese companies of supplying components and equipment to the Russian arms sector: they “provide essential support to the Russian military-industrial complex”, American Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared last week.
“We resolutely oppose the United States spreading false information without any evidence and blaming China,” replied Lin Jian, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
Of the 61 new companies sanctioned by the EU, half are based in Russia, 19 in China, 9 in Turkey, two in Kyrgyzstan, one in India, one in Kazakhstan and one in the United Arab Emirates.
A part “were involved in circumventing trade restrictions (imposed by the West), in the purchase of sensitive components used for example in the production of drones, or in material support for Russian military operations”, according to the EU .
This list is to be distinguished from a “black list” comprising some 2,200 entities and individuals prohibited from entering the EU and whose assets in Europe are frozen, due to the responsibility that the Twenty-Seven attribute to them in the war in Ukraine. 69 individuals and 47 entities were added as part of the 14th sanctions package.