Russia Suffers Major Chinese Blow

Three of China’s largest banks have stopped accepting payments from sanctioned Russian financial institutions, a Russian newspaper reported on Wednesday, dealing a blow to relations between the two nations. The decision was made by Chinese banks Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Bank of China due to the “risks of secondary sanctions” from the United States, Izvestia reported. These banks rank first, second and fourth in terms of assets in China, respectively. Transactions with non-sanctioned banks are still ongoing, the newspaper said. In December, Washington threatened to block foreign banks that conduct business with firms that…