US says China has not given more military aid to Russia

WASHINGTON - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that China has not provided substantial military aid to Russia despite Beijing's ramping up of diplomatic support.

In response to a question on whether China was providing lethal aid to Russia, Blinken said that they had not seen them cross that line.

For weeks, Blinken has publicly warned that China is considering Russian requests for weapons to fight in Ukraine, with some reports indicating limited shipments by Chinese companies to Moscow.

President Xi Jinping visited Moscow this week, where he pushed for a ceasefire in the war - call met with scepticism from Washington, which fears Russia would use a pause to regroup battered forces on the ground.

Their diplomatic support, political support, and to some extent material support for Russia, is against our interests in bringing this war to an end, Blinken said of China.

According to Blinken, the United States would encourage other countries to extradite Russian President Vladimir Putin if he visits after an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court.

Blinken believes that anyone who is a party to the court and has obligations should fulfill their obligations.

He was responding to questions from Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who said the United States should arrest Putin if he steps on US soil.

The United States is not part of the court in The Hague, with the previous Republican administration of Donald Trump imposing sanctions on the then ICC prosecutor for probing US military actions in Afghanistan.

Blinken said he did not expect Putin to travel to the United States. Russia is part of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, which holds its summit in November in San Francisco, but it is highly unlikely that the United States would invite Putin.