Russia has asked China to provide military and economic aid to help sustain its invasion of Ukraine. The details of the request and China’s response has not been disclosed, as per a report by the Financial Times.
If the request goes through, it will undermine the collective efforts of the US and Europe to help the Ukrainian government to push back Russia’s invasion.
The spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy to the US, Liu Pengyu, has denied the knowledge of any such request, the report further says.
This comes hours after the US’s warning to Beijing that China will face “consequences” should it help Russia circumvent the imposed sanctions.
Also read| Mass evacuation planned for Monday in Ukraine's Luhansk region
“We are communicating directly, privately that there will absolutely be consequences for large-scale sanctions, evasion efforts or support 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…,” NSA Jake Sullivan said on Sunday.
NSA Sullivan is set to travel to Rome on Monday to meet China’s top foreign policy official, Yang Jiechi.
China, among other countries such as the UEA, India, has refused to outrightly condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by refusing to impose any economic or military sanctions on Moscow.
The G7 countries (a political alliance consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States) on Friday announced a new set of economic sanctions on Russia as Moscow was stripped of the “most-favoured nation” trade status.
Also read| Only 9 humanitarian corridors in Ukraine operated in last 24 hrs: Minister
This will result in ban or high tariffs on Russian goods, putting it at par with Iran and North Korea.
This ban on goods includes the iron and steel sector as well as high-end luxury goods such as watches, vehicles, clothes, alcohol and jewelry with immediate effect.
The UK imposed strict sanctions on 386 members of Duma, the Russian Parliament. These members were those who had voted to recognise the independence of two breakaway “Independent People’s Republic” of Donetsk and Luhansk in the Donbas region.
The US last Tuesday banned the import of Russian energy imports, i.e., oil and gas. Russia, in retaliation, hit back by imposing an export ban on various products.
The US on Saturday said that it would increase its military support to Ukraine by providing an additional USD200 million worth of equipment to the Ukrainian armed forces.
