US sanctions Chinese firms, Lammy urges China to drop support to Russia as China tightens export controls ahead of Xi trip to Moscow: On Thursday 17 October, the US imposed sanctions on two Chinese firms it accused of developing the “Garpiya” series of attack drones in partnership with a Russian firm, which was also sanctioned. The Garpiya is similar to the Iranian Shahed, but includes a number of unique features; its Chinese-manufactured engine is, notably, originally a German design. These sanctions mark the first time the US has targeted Chinese firms for direct involvement in Russian weapons production. The next day, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy urged China to crack down on the export of dual use technology to Russia during a visit to Beijing, and on the 19th, Chinese state media announced new export controls on dual use technology. All this comes ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s planned visit to Moscow for the BRICS summit, highlighting China’s balancing act between its role as the primary economic enabler of Russian aggression and de facto leader of the “Axis of Authoritarianism” on the one hand, and its equities in its relationships with the much larger markets of the US, UK and EU.

UK tries to rein in growth of Russia’s Oil and LNG Shadow Fleet with new raft of sanctions, as markets move: As the US sanctioned Chinese drone firms, the UK slapped a raft of sanctions on the Russian “shadow fleet” transporting crude oil in defiance of the price cap and, increasingly, LNG from the sanctioned LNG-2 project. 18 oil tankers and 4 LNG tankers were targeted in the announcement, including several that had been identified in an FT report the previous week detailing the involvement of UK-based enablers in the trade. FT’s coverage highlights the role of entities based in the territory of the US and its allies, and the potential role of media exposure and market movement in countering them: it later reported that shares in an implicated UK firm have subsequently dropped 11%. Bloomberg has also recently reported on the UAE’s role as a hub for shadow fleet acquisitions. These developments follow coverage of a major Kyiv School of Economics Report on the shadow fleet, whose poorly-maintained illicit ships are causing substantial environmental harm through oil spills. FT emphasized the report’s findings that the shadow fleet has grown substantially year-on-year, while NYT emphasized the report’s findings on the fleet’s largely successful evasion of the oil price cap. 

SLB in the crosshairs: A bipartisan group of Congressional representatives has called on the administration of US President Joe Biden to restrict the activities of oil field services giant SLB (formerly Schlumberger) in Russia. SLB has repeatedly made the news this year for its ongoing and even expanding operations in Russia despite the war in Ukraine. Its continued presence there has arguably become emblematic of the weaknesses of US attempts to isolate Russia, after a US official infamously declared in May that the company had not violated sanctions and knew “where the guard rails are.”