The US is considering imposing sanctions on Chinese companies that are helping Russia fuel the war in Ukraine. The restrictions would be the first direct sanctions against Beijing, despite long-standing Western suspicions of its support for Russian military operations, according to CNBC. Democratic Senator Gerald Connolly, a member of the US House Committee on Foreign Relations, on Saturday said that lawmakers were already considering such plans after similar measures were proposed last week by the European Union. “China has to understand that the same kinds of sanctions which are beginning to…