China’s role in Russian energy: What’s changed since Feb 24th?

A conversation featuring Amy Myers Jaffe, Research Professor and Managing Director, Climate Policy Lab, The Fletcher School at Tufts University

As Russia’s war in Ukraine wages on, Russian energy exports are finding new markets. To what extent has China emerged as an enthusiastic buyer of Russian crude oil and natural gas? What is the future for the relationship?

Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine has triggered sweeping sanctions on Russian energy exports. While China has largely complied with the substance of Western sanctions, it nevertheless continues to purchase crude oil, coal, and natural gas from its northern neighbor. With Western countries considering how to impose stricter sanctions on Russian energy exports in the months ahead, how might Beijing respond? 

Russia has become China’s top crude oil provider, yet energy ties are complex, as Beijing’s state-owned energy companies have also reportedly suspended petrochemical and LNG projects in Russia. Will energy ties between the two autocracies continue to expand, or might Beijing edge away from Moscow out of its own economic self-interest? 

A conversation with

Erica Downs, Senior Research Scholar, Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University SIPA

Edward C. Chow, Senior Associate, Energy Security and Climate Change Program. Center for Strategic and International Studies

Amy Myers Jaffe, Research Professor and Managing Director, Climate Policy Lab, The Fletcher School at Tufts University

Brian O’Toole, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Economic Statecraft Initiative, GeoEconomics Center, The Atlantic Council

Moderated by: Amb. John E. Herbst, Senior Director, Eurasia Center, Atlantic Council

This event is republished from the Atlantic Council.