If you are skilled at connecting the dots, it’s plausible to believe a Western intelligence report that Chinese President Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in early February and in the discussion the topic of holding off on the invasion of Ukraine until after the Winter Olympics concluded was discussed.
The two leaders got together on February 4th, a few days before the torch was lit. The New York Times, through intelligence sources, reported an agreement was in place e between the two world powers, but they were not sure if the two leaders talked about it themselves or high-ranking underlings handled it.
Russia’s actual invasion of Ukraine began on February 24th, a few days after the closing ceremonies of the Beijing Games.
The NYT asked a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington if the story was true. Here’s what Liu Pengyu told the newspaper.
“The claims mentioned in the relevant reports are speculations without any basis and are intended to blame-shift and smear China.”
The consensus amongst US government officials, according to the story, is that they believe the report is accurate, and China did ask for the invasion to hold off.
Immediately after Putin and Xi met, they put out a statement stating their partnership had “no limits,” and they agreed in condemning the expansion of NATO – which is one of the reasons Putin has used for invading his neighboring country.
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