Chinese Banks Tighten Financial Noose Around Russia

Russian companies with business interests in China are reporting significant payment bottlenecks amid revelations that at least nine Chinese banks have stopped processing transactions from Russia, including those made in yuan. Russia’s Izvestia newspaper reported on Thursday that an “immediate” suspension—notified to clients but not made known to the wider public—had been affecting cross-border settlements since at least mid-January. Some of China’s largest credit institutions, which previously settled both ruble and yuan transactions originating from Russia, put dealings on hold after the United States introduced tougher sanctions in December that specifically targeted banks and other financial firms that, knowingly or…