China asked Russia to delay invasion until end of Olympics: report

Senior Biden administration officials and a European official told The New York Times that there was an intelligence report that said China asked Russia to delay its invasion of Ukraine until after the Olympics. 

The classified intelligence was shared among multiple governments, although sources told The Times it is not known how many nations saw the report or what different interpretations countries drew from the intelligence.

One official told the outlet that the intelligence wasn’t evidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping directly talked about the invasion.

Putin and Xi met on Feb. 4, before the Winter Olympic Games were set to begin in Beijing. The Olympics ended on Feb. 20, and Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.

“These claims are speculation without any basis, and are intended to blame-shift and smear China,” Liu Pengyu, the Chinese Embassy spokesman in Washington, told The Times. 

China has sat on the sidelines during the invasion as Western nations have imposed harsh sanctions on Russia for the attack. 

China has called for peace in Ukraine, but has not been quick to point blame at Russia, saying both sides needed to stop the fighting. 

China said on Wednesday it would not be implementing any sanctions against Russia for the attack.