Chinese banks are shutting down transactions with Russia over worries about losing access to the U.S. dollar and being cut off from the international financial markets, experts told the Kyiv Independent.

The U.S. issued an executive order in December 2023 warning that it would sanction any foreign financial institution supporting companies supplying goods to the Russian military.

Washington didn’t initially follow through with its threats but has recently amped up its aggression towards secondary sanctions, leading to China scaling back its business with Russian parties.