While China denies that it is providing Russia with military assistance in its war on Ukraine, evidence suggests that China is exporting a number of items to Russia that could be classed as battlefield goods, for example machine tools," says Natasha Kuhrt, Senior Lecturer in International Peace & Security at King’s College London.

“Russia’s industrial sector is now fully dependent on China for machine tools and other parts critical to arms manufacturing,” she adds.

China has been importing vast quantities of crude oil from Russia. This is in addition to the oil that is pumped to China via the Eastern Siberian Pacific Ocean pipeline and the gas it receives via the Power of Siberia gas pipeline which almost exclusively goes to China, according to Kuhrt.