Russia Asks China For Help In Ukraine Invasion: US Intel

Russia asked China for military equipment and economic aid in the weeks since Russian President Vladimir Putin first announced a full-scale invasion of Ukraine last month, U.S. officials said.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Washington Post that Russia also asked China to send it certain types of weapons. However, the officials refused to specify which kinds. They also declined to say how China reacted to Kremlin’s requests.

Should China decide to assist Russia in its invasion, it could be the force Moscow needs to upend the hold Ukrainian forces have in the country.

The Chinese government has neither condemned nor condoned Russia’s attack on Ukraine. It has also refrained from calling Moscow’s “special military operations” into Ukraine as an invasion.

However, Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in the U.S., said she has not heard anything about Russia asking China for aid. She also said that China has provided humanitarian assistance in Ukraine and will continue to do so.

"The high priority now is to prevent the tense situation from escalating or even getting out of control. ... China calls for exercising utmost restraint and preventing a massive humanitarian crisis,” Liu told CNN.

Her comments were echoed by China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying who said they will not send arms to Russia. The remarks were made on Feb. 24, the day Russian troops first entered Ukraine.

“There’s a difference in methods between China and the U.S. on this issue. … I think Russia, as a powerful country, does not need China or other countries to provide it with weapons,” Hua said.

News of Kremlin’s request comes as White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan is scheduled to meet with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi in Rome on Monday. Sullivan said he intends to warn Yang about any future Chinese efforts that could help Russia cope with global sanctions or bolster the war against Ukraine and other countries in the West.

Sullivan and Yang’s meeting will also serve as a follow-up on agreements that President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, agreed on during the virtual summit in November, which is to improve crisis communications between the two countries.