As a result, Russian trains - which brought goods directly to Europe by rail or port, or entered via Belarus - became the main path for Chinese-EU overland trade, making up 68 percent of westbound traffic and 82 percent of eastbound traffic in 2021.īut that changed sharply following the Kremlin’s February invasion of Ukraine. The route has received billions of dollars in Chinese investment in infrastructure over the last decade but received a smaller share of shipments due to cost and predictability concerns. It's also known as the Middle Corridor of the BRI - the globe-spanning infrastructure and investment project championed by Chinese President Xi Jinping. The main alternative is the roughly 6,500-kilometer network of roads, railroads, and ports stretching across Kazakhstan, the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, and into Europe known as the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR). “In order to survive, the BRI has no alternative but to adapt to the new circumstances.” Andreea Brinza, vice president of the Romanian Institute for the Study of the Asia-Pacific, told RFE/RL. Moving shipping containers from China through Russia to the European Union became a vital part of Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), but Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and the Western sanctions that followed have forced China to search for alternatives.įaced with the economic fallout of trade disruptions after five months of war, many freight forwarders that move Chinese goods are looking further south to move rail-cargo across Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Turkey to Europe despite long-standing logistical problems with the route.
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