US hits Chinese, Russian firms over Moscow military aid

U.S. President Joe Biden's administration on Monday imposed new trade restrictions on 11 Chinese and five Russian companies, accusing some of supplying components to make drones for Russia's war effort in Ukraine. ... Nine of the companies, including China's Asia Pacific Links Ltd. and Russia's SMT-iLogic, allegedly took part in a scheme to supply the previously blacklisted Special Technology Center with drone parts for Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff (GRU). An investigation by Reuters and iStories, a Russian media outlet, in collaboration with the Royal United Services Institute, a defense think tank in London, last year uncovered a logistical trail that spans the globe and ends at the Orlan drone's production line, the Special Technology Centre in St. Petersburg, Russia.