2026

MOSCOW, May 20 (Reuters) – Russia hopes to power its flagship GigaChat AI model with Chinese-made chips, Sberbank’s CEO said during President Vladimir Putin’s visit to China, as Western sanctions continue to block the country’s access to advanced hardware abroad.

“We are hoping that we will be able to use Chinese microchips for GigaChat,” Chief Executive German Gref told state broadcaster Channel One.

GigaChat was developed by Sberbank, the country’s largest lender, which has been driving Russia’s push into AI.

The bank’s efforts to buy advanced chips from China face stiff competition as China’s biggest internet firms, including ByteDance, Tencent, and Alibaba, are also rushing to order Huawei’s Ascend 950 AI chips.

Ascend 950, the most advanced Chinese chip, still trails U.S.-based Nvidia’s H200 model. Gref did not say which chips Sberbank was trying to buy.

Russia trails AI leaders, the United States and China, in development of the technology and depends heavily on imported electronics in sensitive sectors, including defence. China is its main supplier of such hardware.

(Writing by Gleb BryanskiEditing by Bernadette Baum)

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BEIJING (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin praised his close ties with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and said their countries are partners in trade and international affairs as they opened bilateral talks Wednesday on his trip to Beijing.

Xi welcomed Putin with a ceremony at the Great Hall of the People only days after meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump. The quick succession of Trump’s and Putin’s visits highlighted Beijing’s growing role as an international superpower, experts say.

Putin greeted Xi warmly as they met for bilateral talks at the Great Hall of the People.

“My dear friend,” Putin said. “We are truly delighted to see you. We keep in constant touch, both personally and through our aides in the government.”

Xi also stressed the “political mutual trust and strategic cooperation” between the countries, according to Chinese state media. The two leaders have praised each other profusely in the past, with Xi at one point describing Putin as his “best and most intimate friend.”

Xi and Putin were set to focus on energy and security as well as their overall ties. The two sides agreed to extend a friendship treaty first signed in 2001, Chinese state media reported.

China became Russia’s top trading partner after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Beijing has said it is neutral in the conflict while maintaining trade ties with the Kremlin despite economic and financial sanctions by the U.S. and Europe.

China is the top customer for Russian oil and gas supplies, and Moscow expects the war in Iran to increase the demand.

In his meeting with Xi, Putin stressed their countries’ economic ties.

“The driving force behind economic cooperation is Russian-Chinese collaboration in the energy sector,” Putin said. “Amid the crisis in the Middle East, Russia continues to maintain its role as a reliable supplier of resources, while China remains a responsible consumer of these resources.”

Xi stressed the need of “complete cessation of hostilities” in the Middle East, according to Chinese state media.

“An early end to the conflict will help reduce disruptions to energy supply stability, the smooth flow of industrial and supply chains, and international trade order,” Xi said.

A Russian presidential aide said earlier Russia’s oil exports to China grew by 35% in the first quarter of 2026 and that Russia is one of the biggest exporters of natural gas to China.

Putin also stressed China and Russia’s cooperation in foreign policy as “one of the key stabilizing factors on the international stage.”

“In the current tense situation on the international stage, our close cooperation is particularly in demand,” he said.

In February 2022, just weeks before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, China and Russia announced a “no limits” partnership during a trip by Putin to Beijing.

Beijing says it is neutral in the conflict, though in practice it supports Moscow through frequent state visits, growing trade and joint military drills. China has also ignored demands from the West to stop providing high-tech components for Russia’s weapons industries.

The two leaders are scheduled to sign cooperation agreements during Putin’s two-day visit.

But regardless of specific deals, the primary purpose of the visit is to reaffirm the countries’ ties as well as project Beijing’s image as an influential superpower, experts say.

“The optics matter,” said Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute at the University of London.

“The message is clearly one that China maintains friendship and strategic partnership with whichever power it likes, and the USA is just one of them.”

Putin and Xi both need to use their close ties in order to prop up their images at home, said Willy Lam, a senior China fellow at the Jamestown Foundation.

Putin “needs to tell his countrymen and the world that Russia has China’s support in terms of buying its oil and gas and other tangible and intangible financial support,” Lam said.

Meanwhile, for Xi, having both Trump and Putin visit in such close succession is a major source of credit with the country’s top Communist leadership.

Putin noted earlier this month that Moscow and Beijing have reached “a very substantial step forward in our cooperation in the oil and gas sector.”

“Practically all the key issues have been agreed upon,” he said. “If we succeed in finalizing these details and bringing them to a conclusion during this visit, I will be extremely pleased.”

Putin also praised their bilateral relationship as a crucial, balancing force in international relations.

“Interaction between such nations as China and Russia undoubtedly serves as a factor of deterrence and stability,” he said.

Moscow welcomes China’s dialogue with the U.S. as another stabilizing element for the global economy, Putin added.

“We stand only to benefit from this, from the stability and constructive engagement between the U.S. and China,” he said.

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Mistreanu reported from Bangkok.

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Cryptocurrency Remains a Key Tool for Terror Financing, Experts Say 

Snir Levy, CEO of Nominis: “We have uncovered a lot of wallets that are linked to illicit activities and other terror financing entities in Gaza, but also in other places in the world” 

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) recently revealed that they had uncovered details of an Iranian-directed Hamas funding network that, through Turkey, was able to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars to the terror group. 

Iran allegedly provided the funds and directed the network through operatives and intermediaries connected to Hamas-linked financiers in Turkey, who would then coordinate and manage the money. The funds were allegedly laundered through a number of channels, including money exchanges, front companies, charities, commercial businesses, and cryptocurrency networks. 

These kinds of illegal money transfer chains help terrorist organizations survive and operate. According to Israeli authorities, they were among the mechanisms that enabled Hamas to carry out the deadly October 7, 2023, attack. 

Israeli lawyer Dr. Gideon Fisher, of the Law Office of Dr. Gideon Fisher & Co., told The Media Line that his firm has been targeting the financial infrastructure that allows terrorism to function, especially networks using cryptocurrency. Since the massacre, his firm has represented a number of victims of the attack. He is currently working with thousands, all of whom are recognized as victims of terror by Israel’s National Insurance Institute.  

He explained that litigation can be pursued not only against the terrorist group that carried out an attack, but also against parties that allegedly financed those activities or enabled them. The goal, he said, is not only to support victims, although that remains the primary focus, but also to make it harder to finance terrorism in the future. 

“On top of the moral obligations, it is a strategic move to cut off terrorism at its financial groups,” Fisher told The Media Line. 

Cryptocurrency is widely viewed as one of the primary financial channels used by terrorist organizations. 

Originally, cryptocurrency gained notoriety through platforms like Silk Road, where it was used for illegal activities, including terrorism and other criminal operations. Although the industry has become far more regulated in recent years, cryptocurrency’s anonymous nature has made it easier for terrorist entities to obscure the flow of funds and mask complex transaction networks. Experts say these systems have also been exploited by state-linked actors seeking to bypass international sanctions, similar to the network recently exposed by the IDF. 

Fisher’s team has filed a lawsuit against the Palestine Liberation Organization, alleging that it illegally transferred money to terrorists, including payments to the families of Palestinians imprisoned in Israel for attacks that injured or killed Israelis. He argued that the money encouraged and enabled terrorist organizations to strengthen their operations ahead of October 7. 

“In our lawsuit against Binance, we describe that they intentionally and/or negligently provided extensive cryptocurrency services to Hamas, and they were asked to do so because Hamas realized that they cannot use the banking system,” Fisher said. “No banks would provide Hamas with any services, so Hamas was forced to use an alternative method, and they chose crypto. They had thousands of transactions that helped facilitate the October 7 attack.” 

Binance is one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges. The lawsuit alleges that the company violated international sanctions and US laws prohibiting financial support for terrorism. 

Dr. Amir Bushansky, blockchain and crypto advisor to the law office of Dr. Gideon Fisher, echoed Fisher’s concerns, but said the cryptocurrency industry has changed significantly in recent years, partly because of legal cases and growing regulation. He said that, unlike in the past, it is now much harder to conceal one’s identity on crypto networks, especially in the United States. 

“More and more misuse in criminal activities is being traced down in the crypto market,” Bushansky explained. “Naturally, there were rumors, even lately, that part of the reduction in the Bitcoin value was due to some Iranian leaders pulling their funds.” 

While allegations regarding past activity remain at the center of lawsuits like Fisher’s, Bushansky said the regulatory environment surrounding cryptocurrency has become far stricter in recent years. He noted that anti-money laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements now make it much more difficult to engage in criminal activity or finance terrorism on major crypto platforms. 

Cryptocurrency users operate through wallet numbers and public addresses rather than verified names and identities. As such, any individual can open a digital account and transfer funds without being identified or traced. 

“You were not exposed by your name and address identity, and therefore you could pass on funds around the world,” Bushansky explained. He contrasted that system with traditional banking, where AML and KYC regulations already required institutions to track funds, verify their source, and understand the purpose of transactions, making transfers far more traceable for both senders and receivers. 

But Bushansky said new international regulations are increasingly binding cryptocurrency platforms to the same standards as banks, and that by 2027, AML and KYC requirements are expected to apply broadly across the crypto industry. 

“From 2027, the crypto stock exchange will be bound to supply details about the users to tax authorities around the world,” Bushansky said. “Many countries have already signed on to the plan.” 

Snir Levi is the founder and CEO of Nominis, an Israeli blockchain intelligence company that traces and maps illegal cryptocurrency wallets. The company works with regulators and organizations seeking to combat crypto-enabled illicit activities and terror financing. 

“We provide services today for clients all over the world, including law enforcement agencies, payment providers dealing with cryptocurrencies.  With our platform, they’re able to conduct risk screening for wallets and understand where funds came from – the ‘source of funds’ and the destination of funds, to confirm that the wallet they are about to interact with has not been linked or involved in money laundering or terror financing,” Levi told The Media Line. 

Nominis, for example, develops forensic tools that help investigators identify connections between digital wallets. The company also has a designated team focused on monitoring high-risk jurisdictions and tracking activity related to terror financing, illegal weapons, drug trafficking, human trafficking, and other criminal operations. 

Currently, the company is particularly focused on detecting wallets connected to terror financing, including networks similar to the one recently identified by the IDF. 

“We have uncovered a lot of wallets that are linked to illicit activities and other terror financing entities in Gaza, but also in other places in the world. And based on these, we’re able to detect other illicit entities and networks, such as shell companies,” he said. Shell companies are businesses used to conceal the true source or destination of funds. 

Nominis also played a role in uncovering a scheme reported earlier this year by The Washington Post, in which Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) allegedly exploited the global cryptocurrency ecosystem to move nearly $150 million through two London-registered exchanges, ZedCex and ZedXion, between 2023 and 2025. 

According to Levi, Nominis helped corroborate and verify that wallets linked to the IRGC routed massive volumes of the USDT stablecoin through the TRON blockchain into accounts on exchanges acting as crypto hubs. The funds were allegedly funneled through platforms that obscured the origin and destination of transactions, making it harder for authorities to trace potential terror financing activity. 

Levi also shared links to crypto brokers operating in Gaza, including Quick4Pay, which on its website advertises a large client base in “occupied Palestine” and other Arab states. 

“Readers need to understand how deep this problem is,” Levi said. He warned that, despite expected regulatory changes, enforcement may remain limited largely to the United States and certain Western countries. He argued that if other jurisdictions continue allowing limited transparency and oversight, cryptocurrency could remain a significant channel for terror financing and potentially facilitate future attacks. 

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