U.S. says China ties will not make up for consequences of Russian invasion of Ukraine

U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price gestures during a briefing at the State Department in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 1, 2022. Susan Walsh/Pool via REUTERS

The U.S. State Department warned Russia on Thursday that a closer relationship between Moscow and Beijing would not make up for the consequences of a Russian invasion of Ukraine and only make the Russian economy more brittle.

State Department spokesman Ned Price also told a regular news briefing the United States has an array tools it can deploy if it sees foreign companies, including those in China, trying to evade U.S. export control actions over Ukraine.