Chinese President Xi Jinping could have asked Russian President Vladimir Putin not to attack Ukraine during the Beijing Olympics. Xi Jinping believes that otherwise Putin will overshadow “an important moment for China by provoking a global security crisis with the US and Europe,” Bloomberg reported, citing a source.
Such a request could have been made by the President of China to the Russian President during a videoconference in December. Then Putin confirmed his plans to come to the 2022 Winter Olympics, which will be held from February 4 to 20.
As the US and Europe make increasingly desperate efforts to keep Russia from any invasion of Ukraine, it is Chinese President Xi Jinping who may have the most influence on Vladimir Putin’s timetable.
According to the agency, the Chinese Foreign Ministry at a briefing on January 14 recalled the obligation of countries to comply with the UN resolution on the Olympic Truce. In 2022, it will be valid from January 28 to March 20.
After the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014, “Russian troops began an operation to annex Crimea,” and in 2008, on the opening day of the Summer Games in Beijing, a military conflict began in Georgia, recalled Bloomberg.
Russia must withdraw its troops from the borders with Ukraine to confirm the absence of plans for an “invasion”, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said following a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva. Earlier, US President Joe Biden said that in the event of an escalation of the situation in Ukraine, Russia could face “tough economic consequences”, in particular, among the restrictions may be a ban on Russia to conduct transactions with dollars.
Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov commented on Biden’s words, stressing that statements with threats and warnings against Russia for its hypothetical actions are heard on a daily basis and do not contribute to defusing tensions in Europe.
Materials about Russia’s alleged plans to invade Ukraine appeared in the Western media last fall. Thus, Bloomberg, citing US intelligence data, argued that about 100,000 Russian soldiers could invade the territory of the republic from three directions at once. In addition, the media still publish reports of the accumulation of Russian military on the border with Ukraine. At the same time, the Kremlin and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have repeatedly denied information that Russia has such plans. They noted that the country moves troops at its own discretion within its territory and is not going to attack anyone.