New leak reveals China agreed to send lethal aid to Russia

Chinese officials gave the go-ahead to provide Russia with lethal aid earlier this year according to intercepted Russian intelligence reported on by The Washington Post. 

China planned to secretly aid Vladimir Putin in his war against Ukraine by providing the Russian government with military equipment that was disguised as civilian products according to The Washington Post. 

Journalists Karen DeYoung and Missy Ryan noted that the revelation came to light as part of the larger leak of classified documents that have made their way to public view.

According to DeYoung and Ryan, the news that China was secretly providing Russia with lethal aid was obtained via “U.S. eavesdropping on Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service.”

The information was included in a February 23rd report compiled by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which was later leaked via Discord by Jack Teixeria. 

“It was among a number of previously unreported documents that The Washington Post obtained from a trove of images of classified files posted on a private server on the chat app Discord,” DeYoung and Ryan wrote. 

Included in the leak were specific details that noted China’s Central Military Commission approved the “incremental provision” of a variety of weapons to Russia according to DeYoung and Ryan’s reporting, something the Chinese wanted to be kept secret. 

China has claimed official neutrality in Russia’s war against Ukraine, and Chinese officials have denounced the United States for its role in prolonging the conflict through its supply of weapons to Volodymyr Zelensky's government. 

On February 24th, China’s Foreign Ministry proposed a ceasefire plan in an attempt to end the conflict in Europe, calling on the West to end its sanctions against Russia and Ukraine to return to peace talks according to CNN’s Nectar Gan and Simone McCarthy.  

“Conflict and war benefit no one. All parties must stay rational and exercise restraint, avoid fanning the flames and aggravating tensions, and prevent the crisis from deteriorating further or even spiraling out of control,” China’s position paper stated. 

The paper put forth a 12-point peace plan that also called for reducing the risk of nuclear accidents or war and an end to the ongoing humanitarian crises in the region. 

According to Gan and McCarthy, the ceasefire plan was part of Beijing’s larger goal to position itself as a peacemaker in the conflict, though Western officials have repeatedly doubted China’s neutrality in the conflict. 

Just days after China revealed its peace plan, news broke that Beijing was considering arming Russia with artillery and drones according to intelligence from unnamed U.S. officials that spoke with The Wall Street Journal’s Michael Gordon and Stephen Fidler. 

“The officials said no weapons deliveries have yet taken place. But if China were to go ahead and deliver lethal aid to Russia, the resulting tensions could shape Western relations with Beijing for years,” Gordon and Fidler wrote. 

However, in the weeks that have followed, there has been no hard proof of China supplying Russia with lethal aid, at least until The Washington Post got its hands on the documents leaked by Jack Teixeria. 

“The report provides the most detailed evidence to date of what led to a flurry of public and private Biden administration warnings to Beijing beginning in late February,” Karen DeYoung and Missy Ryan wrote. 

Neither President Biden nor his administration has commented on the leak, but we should expect some statement this week since the issue could change the course of the conflict unfolding in Ukraine.