Western intelligence report: Beijing asked its ally to postpone the war until after the Olympics!
A Western intelligence report revealed that in early February, Chinese officials asked senior Russian officials to wait until the end of the Beijing Olympics before starting the attacks.
US officials consider the aforementioned report as credible, but its details are open to interpretation, according to an informed source told the New York Times.
He also added that although the request was submitted at a time when Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Beijing for the opening ceremony of the Olympics, where he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, it is not clear whether Putin addressed the matter directly with Xi.
Western intelligence officials, who have carefully monitored Putin's build-up on the Ukrainian border in recent weeks, had previously hinted and expected that the Russian leader would delay any military action until after the Olympics to avoid angering China.
After Putin and Xi met on the sidelines of the games, Moscow and Beijing issued a joint statement declaring that their partnership "has no limits", while the statement also condemned the expansion of NATO, a mainstay taken at the time to justify attacking Ukraine, according to the newspaper.
On the other hand, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, Liu Bingyu, said that "the allegations mentioned in this report are just baseless speculation, aimed at shifting blame and discrediting China," according to what was reported by CNN, while the Russian embassy did not comment on the matter. command.
It is noteworthy that the Russian military operation in Ukraine began on February 24, and was preceded by Russia's recognition of two separatist regions in the east of the country.
During the past period, Russia mobilized thousands of its soldiers on the Ukrainian border from 3 sides, while several intelligence reports warned of Moscow's intention to "invade" Ukrainian lands, as it described it, but Russia has repeatedly denied its intention to launch any military operation or invade the western neighbor.
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