US warns Chinese companies over efforts to evade export controls on Russia

"We have an array of tools that we can deploy if we see companies including those in China doing their best to backfill US export control actions, to evade and get around them": US govt spokesperson

The US on Wednesday (local time) said that it has an array of tools it can deploy if companies, including those in China, try to evade export controls on Russia, reported Sputnik.

"We have an array of tools that we can deploy if we see companies including those in China doing their best to backfill US export control actions, to evade and get around them," said US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Thursday.

"We have tools that can address that," Price added. The spokesperson also informed that top officials from the US and China during their recent conversation had discussed the potential implication of Moscow's aggression on Kyiv.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had a discussion on the potential implications of Russian "aggressive actions" against Ukraine during their recent conversation, Price added.

It came as the Pentagon on Wednesday said that Russia is planning to stage an attack by the Ukrainian military against the Russian population in eastern Ukraine to use it as a pretext for an incursion into the country, according to Sputnik.

"We do have information that the Russians are likely to want to fabricate a pretext for an invasion. One option is the Russian government is planning to stage a fake attack by Ukrainian military or intelligence forces against Russian sovereign territory or against Russian speaking people to therefore justify their action," said John F Kirby, spokesperson for Defence Department during a press briefing.

The Pentagon believes Russia is going to produce some graphic propaganda video, which would contain corpses and actors depicting mourners, destroyed locations and military equipment, Kirby said.