Putin confirms Xi visit to Moscow amid fears of Chinese intervention in Ukraine War

The Russian invasion is rapidly nearing it's one year anniversary on Feb. 24 and shows no signs of ending in the near future. 

Published: February 22, 2023 3:22pm

Updated: February 22, 2023 3:45pm

Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed this week that Chinese President Xi Jinping would visit Moscow amid fears that Beijing may soon expand its support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Putin did not specify the exact timetable of the visit but indicated that Moscow was expecting a visit from the head of state.

"We are expecting the President of the People's Republic of China in Russia... We know [Xi] has a domestic political agenda to attend to, but we assume that once the issues on that agenda are dealt with … we will proceed with our plans for personal meetings, which will give additional impetus to our relations," Putin said, according to The Hill.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi did travel to Moscow this week, fueling further concerns that the oriental superpower may indeed be preparing some form of aid to the invading Russian forces.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier this week warned China against providing "lethal support" to Putin. China has already provided "non-lethal support to Russia for use in Ukraine," he contended.

"The concern that we have now is based on information we have that they're considering providing lethal support, and we've made very clear to them that that would cause a serious problem for us and in our relationship," he continued.

The Russian invasion is rapidly nearing it's one-year anniversary on Feb. 24 and shows no signs of ending in the near future. 

China, meanwhile, has drawn concerns in recent years over its ambitions to control Taiwan and, more recently, a string of aerial incursions by suspected surveillance balloons into U.S. airspace.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.

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