Russia has requested military assistance from China in Ukraine
Russia has asked China for military assistance
(
https://cnn.it/3KLSEL9) in Ukraine, including drones,
a senior US official said Sunday.
CNN has reached out to the Russian embassy in the US
for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told
CNN's Dana Bash Sunday that China providing Russia with
support is a concern.
We also are watching closely to see the extent to which China
actually does provide any form of support, material support or
economic support, to Russia. It is a concern of ours. And we
have communicated to Beijing that we will not stand by and
allow any country to compensate Russia for its losses from the
economic sanctions, Sullivan said.
Sullivan said the US has made it clear to Beijing there will
"absolutely be consequences" for "large-scale" efforts to give the
Kremlin a workaround to US sanctions.
"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 said.
Sullivan is set to meet with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi
in Rome Monday.
Chinese embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu told CNN Sunday
he had not heard of Russia's request.
"I've never heard of that. China is deeply concerned and grieved
on the Ukraine situation. We sincerely hope that the situation will
ease and peace will return at an early date," Pengyu said. "The
current situation in Ukraine is indeed disconcerting. Utmost efforts
should be made to support Russia and Ukraine in carrying forward
negotiations despite the difficult situation to produce a peaceful
outcome. We support and encourage all efforts that are conducive
to a peaceful settlement of the crisis. The high priority now is to
prevent the tense situation from escalating or even getting out
of control. There is consensus about this among the international
community, including the parties concerned.
China calls for exercising utmost restraint and preventing a
massive humanitarian crisis. China has put forward an initiative
for responding to the humanitarian situation in Ukraine. China has
provided Ukraine with humanitarian assistance, and will continue
to do so, Pengyu said.
The White House said last week China was abiding by the
requirements that have been put in place over sanctions.
"Our assessment right now is that (China is) abiding by the
requirements that have been put in place, but we would continue
to encourage any country to think a lot about what role they want
to play in history as we all look back," White House press secretary
Jen Psaki said during a Wednesday news conference.
