(Central News Agency) US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (Antony Blinken) said today that although China has stepped up diplomatic support for Russia, it has not yet provided significant military assistance.

"When we talk now, we don't see them crossing that line," Blinken told a Senate committee asking lawmakers whether China had provided "lethal aid" to Russia.

Please read on...

Blinken has publicly warned for weeks that China is considering Russia's arms demands for the Ukraine war.

There are also some reports that Chinese companies have delivered limited quantities of weapons to Russia.

Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Moscow this week to promote China's proposed ceasefire in the war with Russia and Ukraine.

The claim was met with skepticism by the United States, which feared that the Russian military would use the respite to reorganize wounded troops on the battlefield.

"I think their diplomatic support, their political support, some level of physical support for Russia is certainly against our interest in ending this war," Blinken said.

Blinken also said that because the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, the United States is encouraging other countries to extradite Putin when he visits.

"I think that the member states of the ICC who have obligations should do so," he said.

The United States is not a member of the ICC because the Republican administration under former President Donald Trump sanctioned the court's prosecutors over the court's investigation of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan.

1120322