A major Chinese oil company just cancelled a half billion dollar deal to buy Russian oil.
It came after the Chinese firm realised a senior executive at Russia's largest petrochemical producer Sibur, a firm they were working with, was an ally of alleged war criminal Vladimir Putin.
While humanitarian grounds never seem to motivate China, hitting them in the pocket book is a much bigger motivator.
Beijing has continued trading with Moscow since the outbreak of war but Chinese President Xi Jinping's government is said to be worried about potential sanctions they may face from the West if they support Putin.
But that’s not all,
A multilateral development bank based in China suspends activities in Russia and Belarus
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), a multilateral development bank based in China, has put all activities related to Russia and Belarus on hold, the AIIB said in the statement. The projects are currently "under review."
China controls 26% of the voting power of the AIIB, according to the bank's website. Russia has 6%. China spearheaded the founding of the AIIB to rival the U.S.-based World Bank in 2016.
Putin’s isolation is now virtually complete. While bad news is clearly being kept from them, sooner or later the Russian public is going to figure out something has gone terribly wrong, and when that happens, President Biden’s words may begin to seem prophetic.