CIA Director William Burns has confirmed that the United States is “sure” that China is considering providing Russia with lethal equipment for its war against Ukraine.
“We trust that the Chinese leadership is considering the provision of lethal equipment,” Burns said in an interview with CBS, collected by The Hill.
“CIA director says U.S. is “confident” China considering providing lethal equipment to assist Russia in war: CBS interview https://t.co/Gq6dOUu2G7 pic.twitter.com/Y1F9jr9Vw6“
— The Hill (@thehill) February 26, 2023
However, the head of the US intelligence agency has indicated that no final decision has been made so far and that there is no evidence of lethal weapons shipments for now.
Burns’ remarks come a day after US President Joe Biden stated that there is currently no evidence to show that Beijing has supplied lethal weapons to Moscow.
In this sense, the White House tenant assured in statements to the press that in his last meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, he warned him about the consequences of sending lethal weapons to Russia.
“I had a long conversation with Xi about this in the summer. I said, ‘Look, this is not a threat, it’s just a statement.’ When, in fact, the Europeans saw what was happening and the Americans saw what was happening in Russia, in Europe, guess what? Six hundred companies pulled out and left,” Biden said.
“The next six months in Ukraine will be crucial”
In addition, the director of the CIA has indicated that the next six months will be “key” in the war in Ukraine given the decreasing Western interest and the “political fatigue” existing among the countries that support the Ukrainian government, according to what he has told CBS.
“Putin, I think, is betting at the moment that he can make time work for him (…) The key is going to be on the battlefield in the next six months, it seems to us,” Burns stressed, arguing that fatigue and time could give Russian troops a new chance to make a profit on the battlefield.
For the head of the US intelligence services, it is important to pierce “Putin’s arrogance” so that, as each month passes “there is a greater risk for Russia of losing the territory that it has so far seized” illegally “from Ukraine .
He calls the ties between Russia and Iran “particularly worrying”
As for Iran, Burns has bet that for the moment it has not decided to resume its nuclear weapons development program, which has been suspended since 2003.
He has also warned that the United States “will not allow” Tehran to acquire nuclear weapons.
He has also described the ties between Russia and Iran as “particularly worrying”, after reports that Tehran has provided drones and relevant training to Putin’s forces in Ukraine.