Chinese company bought metal from occupied territories of Ukraine in amount of $7.4 million, - Reuters
The Chinese firm "Quzhou Nova" purchased no less than 3,220 tons of copper alloy in ingots for a total of $7.4 million from the Debaltseve Metallurgical Machine Building Plant from October 8, 2022 to March 24, 2023.
This was reported by Censor.NET with reference to Reuters.
The publication writes that customs information obtained from one provider of commercial trade data and compared with two other sources contains evidence of Chinese trade with Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine.
Quzhou Nova, a trading and manufacturing company based in the city of Quzhou in the eastern province of Zhejiang, told the publication that it does not trade copper ingots.
When journalists showed the documents detailing the export in the customs data mentioned above, the company said that it was "difficult for them to understand the documents because they do not have a seal and signature" and offered to clarify the data at customs
The publication notes that the database from which it received the documents does not display signatures and seals on its materials.
China's customs service refused to provide data on "Quzhou Nova" because "the company's trading data is not disclosed in our public space." China imported $852 million worth of copper and copper alloys from Russia between October last year and February 2023, according to state customs statistics.
A source at the Debaltseve plant, who wished to remain anonymous, told the publication that the enterprise does produce copper ingots, but did not say whether China was buying this copper or not. "This is a commercial secret," the source explained.
The management of the Debaltsev combine did not respond to the publication's request for comments either by phone or in writing.
The Federal Customs Service of Russia also reported that "information about the companies is confidential and not disclosed."
The Kremlin said that they do not know whether the Reuters information is true and added that "they are not even oriented on this topic."
It will be recalled that the head of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Qin Gang, noted that China's war policy remains unchanged. According to him, China wants a peace agreement to be concluded and will not add "fuel to the fire".
