As per reports, Russia has sought military support from China in Ukraine. The US official has not said what type of weapon has been sought, according to the New York Times.
The US daily says, which also cited the official, the Kremlin asked China for economic aid due to Western sanctions.
Visa and Mastercard halted operations in Russia. After that, there are already stories of Russian banks collaborating with their Chinese counterparts. It is on the prospect of issuing “co-badged” cards powered by payment systems such as China’s UnionPay and Russia’s Mir for international payments.
China, on the other hand, has denied that Moscow is looking for weaponry. “I’ve never heard of that,” Liu Pengyus said in s statement. Liu is a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in the United States.
“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,” CNN quoted the statement as saying.
Meanwhile, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan is due to meet with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi this week. Sullivan has warned China against assisting Russia in defying global sanctions.
“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,” Sullivan told CNN on Sunday.
“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,” he also says.