Banks in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been rejecting transactions from Russian companies for electronic components and consumer electronics from China since early August, the pro-Kremlin outlet Kommersant reported on Aug. 28.

The reason is the risk of secondary actions, the outlet claimed.

This comes as another case of mounting obstacles in Russian-Chinese economic relations amid the growing pressure of U.S. sanctions imposed over Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

According to Kommersant’s undisclosed sources, Russian firms used UAE-based entities to transfer money to China to ship goods directly to Russia.