A U.S. official confirmed that Russia sought military equipment and other support from China amidst its invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian government has asked China for military equipment and other forms of support as it continues its unprovoked attack on Ukraine, a U.S. official confirmed on Sunday. The request has heightened tensions over Russian President Vladimir Putin's attack on Ukraine ahead of a meeting in Rome on Monday to be attended by top aides for the U.S. and Chinese governments.
According to ABC News, the U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly, said that in recent days, Russia had requested support from China so it could continue to invade Ukraine. But details of the request were not disclosed. News of the Kremlin's request for Chinese support comes ahead of the meeting between U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan and China's top foreign policy official, Yang Jiechi.
Sullian on Sunday told CNN's "State of the Union" that "we are communicating directly, privately to Beijing that there will absolutely be consequences for large-scale sanctions evasion efforts or support to Russia to backfill them."
"We will not allow that to go forward and allow there to be a lifeline to Russia from these economic sanctions from any country anywhere in the world," Sullivan declared, as per Politico. Sanctions placed on Russia by the U.S. and Europe had pushed Moscow to ask for economic help from China.
According to Reuters, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said during an interview that the country's gold and foreign exchange reserves are partly in Chinese currency, in yuan. Siluanov also acknowledged the "pressure...being exerted by Western countries on China in order to limit mutual trade with China."
China is one of a handful of countries that refused to criticize Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. Al Jazeera reported that China's Xi Jinping hosted Putin during the opening of the Winter Olympics in Beijing in February, a mere weeks before Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine on the 24th.
During Putin's visit to China, he and Xi issued a 5,000-word statement declaring "no limits" in the alliance of Russia and China. Meanwhile, Chinese officials also warned Washington not to complain about Russia's actions against Ukraine as it had previously invaded Iraq under false pretenses. China reminded the U.S. of its war on Iraq after it claimed that Saddam Hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction, which were never found.
Russia's proximity to China is evident in the fact that China is Russia's top export market next to the European Union. China's customs agency reported that Russian exports to China were worth $79.3 billion in 2021 alone, with oil and gas accounting for up to 56% of that amount. But Russia's unprovoked attack on Ukraine has placed China in a delicate spot with the U.S. and the European Union, which are two of its largest trading partners. China must have access to these countries, but has also shown support for Putin's invasion.
As for Monday's meeting with Sullivan, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian failed to mention Ukraine, but said that the "key issue of this meeting is to implement the important consensus reached by the Chinese and U.S. heads of state in their virtual summit in November last year."
