How Western curbs on Russian oil revenue benefit China

Russia’s decisive turn toward China—politically, economically and technologically—has been among the most notable geopolitical consequences of President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine. Yet Moscow and Beijing had been edging closer for over a decade before the invasion and, regardless of their relationship with one another, American officials have seen each as a major national security and foreign policy challenge for some time. From this perspective, the best policies to address each challenge must avoid making the other more difficult to manage. U.S. efforts to damage Russia economically demonstrate that Washington has yet to internalize this strategic logic. Continued failure to do so will likely have escalating costs.