China has comprehensively taken over the Russian car market after stepping in to replace Western car makers following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Chinese companies such as Great Wall Motor, Geely and Chery are importing models to the country as well as co-operating with the Russian government to restart the country’s once-thriving car manufacturing industry.

As a consequence, Russian car sales are booming again, with sales up 75% so far this year, at just over 700,000, according to the Association of European Businesses (AEB) in Russia.

Of the 130,715 new cars sold in June, 69,400 were imported from China, the AEB said.