The Chinese company Alibaba, the owner of AliExpress, has imposed restrictions on Russian businesses, as reported by Kommersant.
The company has stopped accepting payments in rubles. Payment with Russian cards is mostly impossible, except for some banks. Additionally, there is a ban on delivering goods to Russia; placing orders with delivery is now prohibited.
Experts believe these measures are prompted by the threat of secondary sanctions, as the US could impose measures against foreign banks dealing with sanctioned individuals from Russia, as well as difficulties with processing payments: since December 2023, there have been problems with payments from Russia in Chinese banks.
Alibaba has already reduced its presence in Russia: In 2022, the company stopped investing in its Russian subsidiary AliExpress, and in 2023, AliExpress's revenue in Russia dropped by 36% to 10 billion rubles.
