United Kingdom Defense Secretary Grant Shapps stated that the US and British defense intelligence has evidence that "lethal aid is now, or will be, flowing from China to Russia and into Ukraine." Reuters quotes him as saying. "I think it is a significant development," the Secretary added, as he delivered a speech at the London Defence Conference 2024 on May 22nd, 2024.
So far, neither US nor other UK officials have commented on this accusation. "Russia and China are collaborating on combat equipment for use in Ukraine," Shapps specified, as delivered by the UK defense ministry's press service.
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Moreover, while Chinese drones and electronic warfare devices have already been recorded so many times in the russian forces it became no news, even China Tiger armored vehicles manufactured by Shaanxi Baoji Special Vehicles have been spotted multiple times, too. Not to mention the Desertcross 1000-3 all-terrain vehicles, aka "golf carts," that surfaced on the Ukrainian frontlines a few times.
Another indication of tensions amid possibly increased military cooperation between russia and China is U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken's visit to Beijing in late April 2024, where he openly warned about sanctions that could be enacted, if China decides to continue strengthening the ties with Moscow.
In practical terms, the question is what exactly Beijing can sell to the russian federation. The Chinese defense industry is one of the most powerful in the world, it can produce practically all types of weapons. Moreover, it has a separate series of equipment that is intended exclusively for export. That is not to forget the huge stockpiles of military goods accumulated for the needs of an armed force totalling over 2 million people.
That is, of all the possible scenarios of russia finding new ways to keep fighting in Ukraine, for Kyiv and its partners it is the "Chinese factor" that is objectively the worst and extremely dangerous. China has it all, from armored vehicles — including the old ones that russia can revive at its plants and the new ones — artillery systems in calibers compatible with Soviet-era guns, vehicles, ammunition, and long-range missiles, both cruise and ballistic ones, and so on and so on.
Thus, if Beijing really opens arms exports to the russian federation, the rapidly depleting resource of russia's own arsenals will no longer be an issue for its army. And there's never been a problem for the Kremlin to find more human resources for that matter.
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