China is importing more from Russia than ever before, with trade between the 2 countries surging since Putin invaded Ukraine

• China bought Russian products worth a record $11.5 billion last month, new customs data showed.
• Trade between the two countries has soared since the Kremlin invaded Ukraine last year.

China is buying more products from Russia than ever before as western sanctions on the Kremlin drive up trade between the two countries.

Customs data published Thursday showed that Chinese imports from Russia jumped more than 25% to a record $11.5 billion in August.

The neighbors have traded goods and services worth $155 billion in the first eight months of 2023, with that figure expected to hit to $200 billion by year-end, per Moscow's projections.

Russia and China started to do more business with each other after Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in February 2022, which led to the US and its allies imposing widespread sanctions.

China imports tens of millions of barrels of crude oil from Russia each day, as well as other commodities such as copper, aluminum, and iron.

Increased trade between Beijing and Moscow has also fueled the narrative that the two countries are working together to boost the dedollarization movement, which refers to a co-ordinated effort to dethrone the greenback as the world's dominant currency.

Russia has started settling more contracts using the Chinese yuan and was paid in renminbi for a quarter of its exports in July, according to recent figures published by its central bank.