US EditionForeign Cars Flow to Russia Through China, Skirting Ukraine War Sanctions: Reuters
Nearly half of the 130,000 foreign-brand cars sold in Russia in 2025 came via China, exploiting reclassification as zero-mileage used vehicles to bypass sanctions.
- Reuters revealed tens of thousands of cars were exported from China to Russia via gray-market schemes that bypass sanctions, with Autostat data showing China as a primary conduit for these imports.
- Sanctions and automaker pledges after Russia's 2022 invasion curtailed official sales, while China's subsidised car market and zero-mileage 'used' exports enabled traders to reroute vehicles.
- Autostat shows nearly 47,000 registrations of German brands in Russia in 2025, with more than 20,000 made in China, and nearly 30,000 Toyotas purchased, almost all China-made.
- Automakers say they prohibit direct Russia sales and lament unauthorized exports, while South Korea's trade ministry and Germany's economy ministry report complex, time-consuming enforcement efforts.
- Since the 2022 invasion, Autostat data show more than 700,000 foreign-brand vehicles sold in Russia, with sales from sanctioning regions dropping to about one-eighth and China-manufactured vehicles doubling since 2023.
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A successful trade in these vehicles – from Toyota 7203.T and Mazda 7261.T to German luxury models – continues partly through information networks that allow Russian concessionaires to order them through Chinese intermediaries
Cars record a zero-kilometre run.
Despite export bans, thousands of European vehicles land on the Russian market by means of Chinese intermediaries. Manufacturers have difficulty clarifying violations.
Tens of thousands of cars are exported from China to Russia through parallel import schemes that often exalt the sanctions of Western and Asian governments and the car manufacturers' commitments to get out of the Russian market, according to data on...
Tens of thousands of foreign cars have been sent to Russia through intermediaries in China since 2023, which are listed as used in documents to avoid sanctions imposed after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
How foreign cars are flowing to Russia through China, skirting Ukraine war sanctions
Tens of thousands of cars are being exported from China to Russia under grey-market schemes that often circumvent Western and Asian government sanctions and carmakers’ commitments to exit the Russian market.
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- 45% of the sources are Center
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