US says China will not come to Russia's rescue; Beijing hits back with 'US Bombing List'

China will not come to the rescue of Russia after the series of Western financial sanctions on Moscow over launching an assault on Ukraine, a senior Biden administration official said on Saturday, February 26. The remarks came as EU and the West discussed more punitive measures to penalise Russia and cut off several Moscow banks from the SWIFT system, an international payment network used for trillions of dollars worth of transactions worldwide. 

The UK, the US, Canada, the European Union, and NATO-allied countries have imposed a set of sanctions on Russian government officials and businesses, in view of crippling Moscow’s economy and hitting its finance.

China 'not coming to rescue..'

West hit a barrage of sanctions in condemnation of Russian President Vladimir Putin launching an all-out military offensive on the sovereign Ukrainian territory. Meanwhile, reports have also emerged that several Chinese public banks have considered limiting funding to purchase raw materials from Russia due to the Western sanctions. At least two of China's largest state-owned banks, ICBC and Bank of China, are restricting funding for the purchase of Russian commodities, reports Bloomberg.

In a barb against Beijing - a Moscow ally, US official on Saturday said, “The latest time suggests that China’s not coming to the rescue of Russia,” according to Sputnik News Agency.

“I think it was reported that China was actually restricting some of its banks to provide credit to facilitate energy purchases from Russia, which suggests that much like has been the pattern for years and years, China has tended to respect the force of US sanctions,” the official, who wasn’t identified with name, said further.

'Never forget who’s real threat to the world - United States': Chinese Foreign Ministery Spokesperson

Hitting back at the United States, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian on Twitter said: “Never forget who’s the real threat to the world,” referring to America’s many foreign invasions.

“We have never invaded other countries, never engaged in proxy wars, never sought spheres of influence, or participated in military bloc confrontation,” he went on to remind the US.

Chinese Embassy in Russia also shared a “US bombing list” that included all the countries that have been targeted by the US since the end of WWII. 

Zhao also openly accused the United States of provoking a war between Ukraine and Russia. “The US should ask itself who's the one that started all these,” the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said. China and United States indulged in back and forth discussions about the US sanctions that could potentially deprive Russia of access to the dollar.

Washington also sanctioned Russian energy giant Gazprom and other companies that will no longer be able to do business in Western financial markets. While Western financial embargoes hit Russia, Putin, who had visited Beijing for the Winter Olympics earlier in February, had signed key agreements with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

Russian rating agency ACRA also released a report estimating that Russian banks had already imported $5 billion worth of banknotes in foreign currencies in December, speculating Western sanctions. In a recorded message ahead of the invasion, the Russian president in a defiant tone had warned the West that its “sanctions strategy” has gotten old and predictable, and that it is like “a mother threatening kid of taking away the PS5”.

West had also imposed first round of international sanctions on Russia after Russian troops annexed Crimea, a part of Ukraine in 2014, a move that failed to avert Moscow’s further invasion in 2022.