The Wall Street Journal accused China of providing technology to the Russian army, and while Washington allowed the first operation to hand over frozen Russian assets to Kyiv, the European Union, the Group of Seven and Australia agreed to set a ceiling for Russian oil prices.

The American Wall Street Journal said that Beijing is providing the technology the Russian army needs to continue the war in Ukraine despite international sanctions.

It cited Russian customs data that Chinese state-owned defense companies ship navigation equipment, jamming technology and combat aircraft parts to sanctioned state-owned Russian defense companies.

The newspaper quoted a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington as saying that the allegation of providing assistance to Russia is baseless and deliberately exaggerated.

as he put it.

American escalation

And in Washington, US Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that he had authorized the first transfer of seized assets from a Russian elite to the State Department, for use in propping up Ukraine.

Garland added, during his meeting with Ukrainian Attorney General Andrei Kostin in Washington, that the measure comes in line with the new authority granted by Congress to the Department of Justice, which allows it to transfer some of the seized assets and use them for the benefit of reconstruction in Ukraine.

Ukraine's Attorney General Andriy Kostin has confirmed that the Russian assets to be transferred will be used for reconstruction efforts.

This is not the first time that the issue of reusing confiscated assets has been raised. At the end of last year, the European Commission proposed transferring frozen Russian assets to a fund that could be managed to generate profits to be used in the reconstruction of Ukraine.

The funds frozen by Washington and its allies amount to about $300 billion in assets of Russia's central bank and $30 billion in assets of Russia's elite subject to Western sanctions.

It had previously used such measures against Russia twice, in 2014 in response to its annexation of Crimea and in 2021 due to what was described as harmful activities against the United States.

On the other hand, Moscow threatens to respond by confiscating the assets of Western companies in Russia. For example, 85% of the foreign aircraft that operate in Russia are leased to Western companies, with an estimated value of $12 billion.

Canadian sanctions

In a related context, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the imposition of sanctions on 38 people and 16 entities complicit in spreading disinformation and Russian propaganda, he said.

Trudeau added, in a tweet to him on Twitter, that his country will continue to work with partners to exert additional pressure on the Russian regime, as he put it, and to support the Ukrainian people.

Western agreement

For its part, the European Commission announced the agreement of the European Union, the Group of Seven and Australia to set a maximum price for Russian petroleum products.

The Commission said that putting a ceiling on the prices of Russian petroleum products transported by sea would further harm Russia's revenues and limit its ability to continue the war in Ukraine, as well as help the stability of global energy markets.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen confirmed that the Russian president and his country would pay a heavy price for what she described as the brutal war in Ukraine.

The European official also said that the sanctions will erode the Russian economy and turn it back, stressing that the implementation of the tenth package of European sanctions on Russia will begin by February 24.

Russian response

On the other hand, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the leadership of the European Union and its member states have invested all their political, financial and military means on the Ukrainian front to prevent the establishment of a multipolar world order.

And she added in a press statement that Russia is working alongside several countries with everything it has to support the principle of a multipolar world.

Zakharova described the statement issued by the European-Ukrainian summit held in Kyiv yesterday, describing it as inconsistent with the principles promoted by the European Union.

She stressed that the objectives of the military operation in Ukraine will be achieved, which will disappoint the expectations of those gathered within the framework of the summit, as she said.