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“China’s lifting of restrictions on Russian wheat and barley imports are clearly intended to offset the impact of sanctions, but it remains to be seen if this will primarily be a symbolic gesture or if it will have meaningful economic impact,” said Stephen Olson, senior research fellow at the Hinrich Foundation, a nonprofit organization focused on trade issues.

“China’s ability to offset the impact of Western sanctions will be determined by the scale and scope of sanctions ultimately agreed to by the U.S. and its partners,” Olson said. “At this point, the West has not yet put all its cards on the table, leaving open the option of tightening the screws later, if need be.”

The Russian ruble plunged to record lows against the U.S. dollar on Thursday as the invasion began.

Western sanctions on Russia have stopped short of cutting the Kremlin off from SWIFT, the international payments network. As of January, the Chinese yuan was the fourth most-used currency for global payments, up from sixth place two years ago, according to SWIFT.

China’s Hua on Thursday criticized the U.S. for providing military assistance to Ukraine and said Russia does not need such support from Beijing or others.

Ties between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping strengthened earlier this month with a high-profile meeting of the leaders in Beijing just before the Winter Olympics in the city.

In an official readout, the Chinese side said the two countries need to “strengthen their strategic partnership on energy” and “advance cooperation on scientific and technological innovation.”

On the same day, Russian energy giants Gazprom and Rosneft signed deals with the China National Petroleum Corporation to supply oil and natural gas to China.

“As long as China continues to implement its trading relationship, those measures would already be very helpful to Russia,” said Tong Zhao, a senior fellow in the nuclear policy program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, based in Beijing.

Zhao, who emphasized he is not an expert on economic issues, said that if China took additional measures to support Russia, “it is likely to do those measures in a very low-profile manner in order to mitigate the provocations seen from European and other countries.”