Russia has said it is banking on China’s help to withstand the crippling economic sanctions placed by Western nations over the war in Ukraine as the United States warned Beijing not to provide that lifeline.

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said sanctions had deprived Moscow of access to $300bn of its $640bn in gold and foreign exchange reserves and added that there was pressure on Beijing to shut off more.

“We have part of our gold and foreign exchange reserves in the Chinese currency, in yuan. And we see what pressure is being exerted by Western countries on China in order to limit mutual trade with China. Of course, there is pressure to limit access to those reserves,” he said on Sunday.

“We are closely monitoring the extent to which China actually provides material and economic support to Russia,” Sullivan was quoted as saying by Ria Novosti, RT reported.

According to him, “The US authorities informed Beijing that they would not tolerate or allow any country to try to compensate Russia for its economic losses.”

Earlier, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said that Western countries are putting pressure on China in order to limit Russia’s access to its yuan reserves.

Western sanctions on Russia will affect the recovery of the global economy and harm all parties, said Premier of the State Council of China Li Keqiang.

Russia and China have tightened cooperation as they have come under Western pressure over human rights and other issues. Beijing has not condemned Russia’s attack on Ukraine and does not call it an invasion but has urged a negotiated solution.

The Washington Post said the unidentified US officials did not state the kind of weaponry that Russia requested or how China responded.

Earlier, Sullivan told CNN the US believed China was aware Russia was planning action in Ukraine before the invasion took place, though Beijing may not have understood the full extent of what was planned.

“We are communicating directly, privately to Beijing, that there will absolutely be consequences for large-scale sanctions evasion efforts or support to Russia to backfill them,” Sullivan said. “We will not allow that to go forward and allow there to be a lifeline to Russia from these economic sanctions from any country, anywhere in the world.”

A senior US administration official said the war in Ukraine would be a “significant topic” during Sullivan’s meeting with Yang, which is part of a broader effort by Washington and Beijing to maintain communication and manage competition between the world’s two largest economies.

“This meeting is taking place in the context of Russia’s unjustified and brutal war against Ukraine, and as China has aligned itself with Russia to advance their own vision of the world order, and so I expect … the two of them will discuss the impact of Russia’s war against Ukraine on regional and global security,” the source said.

China is the largest trade partner for Russia and Ukraine, and trade between China and Russia reached a record high of $146.9 billion in 2021, up 35.8% year-on-year, according to China’s customs agency. China’s imports from Russia exceeded exports by more than $10 billion last year.

Alexander Gabuev, senior fellow and Russia chair at think-tank Carnegie Moscow Center, said he expects China to be “religious about observing” the U.S. and EU sanctions. But Beijing “will do everything possible” outside of the scope of the sanctions, he added.

One possibility is that, once the war situation stabilizes, China could seize opportunities to buy Russian oil and gas on the cheap, Gabuev told CNBC’s “Capital Connection” on Monday.

“There will be no formal violation of U.S. and EU sanctions, but that will be a significant material lifeline to the regime,” he said. 

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