On Wednesday, the Kremlin labeled a statement by US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen as „blackmail“, after she warned that Washington would impose sanctions if China increased its exports of „dual-use“ goods to Russia. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declared that Washington’s tone was entirely unacceptable and that Moscow stood in solidarity with Beijing. „We are fully aware that our Chinese counterparts do not accept such language, such messages and threats, this kind of blackmail,“ Peskov told reporters. US politicians need to realize that one cannot speak to an economic superpower like China in this manner, he added.