Xi Jinping Asked Putin To Wait Until After Olympics To Invade Ukraine

The alliance between Russia and the Chinese government appears to be as strong as ever. Per a Western intelligence report, Chinese and Russian officials met in early February to discuss, among other things, delaying Russia's invasion into the Ukraine until after the Winter Olympics, which took place in Beijing.

Coincidentally, Chinese president Xi Jinping and Russian leader Vladimir Putin met in Beijing on February 4th, just prior to the start of the Olympic Games. Per The New York Times, though intelligence suggests there was an agreement between the two countries, it can't say for certain whether Xi and Putin discussed the delayed invasion themselves, or whether those discussions were handled by other high-ranking officials.

The New York Times indicated that United States government officials and their allies shared the intelligence with one another in an attempt to determine when Putin may order his attack on Ukraine, but they could not reach a consensus.

As the world now knows, the Russian invasion began on February 24th, just four days after the closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics.

The Times asked Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, whether there was any truth to the report regarding a Chinese-Russian agreement to pause the invasion until after the Games. Liu responded: "The claims mentioned in the relevant reports are speculations without any basis, and are intended to blame-shift and smear China."

Clearly, the Winter Olympics weren't the only games being played in Beijing.

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