Foreign cars going to Russia via China, skirting Ukraine war sanctions

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Fri, February 13, 2026 at 4:46 PM GMT+9

STORY: Tens of thousands of cars are being exported to Russia via China…despite sanctions and company pledges that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.Among them are Toyotas and German luxury models. That’s according to data from Russian research firm Autostat and interviews with people involved in the trade.Most of the imported cars are made in China, where many global brands have factories. A growing number of those are sold as zero-mileage “used” vehicles.Those cars are bought brand new in China and then reclassified as used and exported.One car trader based in Sichuan said the practice skirts the need to get automaker approval for sales to Russia. Zero-mileage cars are sold cheaply in China but fetch similar prices to new cars in Russia.That’s according to a Russian dealer and vehicle-shipping documents reviewed by Reuters.Dmitry Zazulin is the sales director of Moscow car dealership Panavto-Zapad.“I can’t speak for everyone selling cars now, but car imports are currently very high, with vehicles coming from different countries, both new and used. If you look at the latest Autostat reports, the number of used cars has begun to increase significantly and is showing strong growth. Unfortunately, I believe there are some dishonest players in our market who try to sell used cars as new — but we don’t do that.”Automakers that prohibit sales to Russia say they are doing their best to prevent unauthorized exports.In a statement, Mercedes said probing breaches was “time-consuming and complex”, saying it requires third-party assistance.BMW said it had told its Chinese dealers to strictly oppose potential exports to Russia.

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