US hasn’t seen China provide lethal aid to Russia, Pentagon says
Mike Brest
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The U.S. still has not seen any intelligence to indicate China has supplied Russia with lethal aid for the use in Ukraine.
U.S. officials have said for about a month now that Beijing was considering such a move, which they warned would incur significant consequences. Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder told reporters on Thursday that they still haven’t seen it happen yet.
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“As of right now, we’ve not seen any legal assistance transferring from China to Russia for use on the battlefield in Ukraine,” he said, adding that it’s something they’re “keeping a very close eye on.”
Chinese companies reportedly sent Russian entities a thousand assault rifles and other equipment that could be used for military purposes from June through December of last year, Politico reported, which cited data provided by a customs data aggregator. The companies also provided Russian entities with a dozen shipments of drone parts and over 12 tons of Chinese body armor. It’s unclear if any of the rifles have made it to the battlefield.
“I know there’s some press reports out there talking about some trade deals,” Ryder said, responding 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 declined to comment on the report, directing the Washington Examiner to national security adviser Jake Sullivan’s remarks during a gaggle earlier this 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 gotten lethal aid from Iran in the form of hundreds of unmanned drones, and North Korea has provided weapons to the paramilitary group known as the Wagner Group.