US hasn’t seen China provide lethal aid to Russia, Pentagon says

The U.S. has not yet received any intelligence that suggests China may have provided Russia with lethal assistance for Ukraine.

Since about a month ago, U.S. officials had stated that Beijing was looking into such a move. However, they warned of serious consequences. Brig. On Thursday, Gen. Patrick Ryder stated to reporters that they haven’t yet seen it happen.

US HAS “GROWING CONCERN” OVER CHINA’S RELATIONSHIP w/ RUSSIA

“As of right now, we’ve not seen any legal assistance transferring from China to Russia for use on the battlefield in Ukraine,” He added that they have to do it. “keeping a very close eye on.”

Chinese companies are reported to have sent Russian forces a thousand assault rifles, and other equipment, between June and December 2013. Politico The report cited data from a customs data aggregater. Russian entities also received a dozen drone parts shipments and more than 12 tons of Chinese body armour. It is unclear whether any of these rifles made it to the battlefield.

“I know there’s some press reports out there talking about some trade deals,” Ryder responded to the report. “That in and of itself is not unusual. China and Russia share a trade relationship. But the key point being is that as of right now, we’ve not seen any legal assistance transferring from China to Russia for use on the battlefield in Ukraine.”

The National Security Council did not comment on the report. It directed the Washington Examiner Jake Sullivan, national security advisor, made these remarks at a gaggle earlier in the week.

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“It would not be in China’s interests, from our perspective, for them to supply weapons to Russia for use on the battlefield in Ukraine, but that’s a sovereign decision China will have to make for itself,” He said. “And as I personally said before, we think it would be a big mistake for China to do that because Russia is using those weapons to kill civilians and commit war crimes. And China should want nothing to do with that.”

Russia has received lethal aid from Iran, in the form of hundreds unmanned drones. North Korea also provided weapons to the Wagner Group paramilitary group.