China reportedly asked Russia to hold off on Ukraine invasion until after Winter Olympics

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
(Image credit: Alexei Druzhinin/AFP via Getty Images)

According to a Western intelligence report, in early February senior Chinese officials told their Russian counterparts not to invade Ukraine prior to the end of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, senior Biden administration officials and a European official told The New York Times.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Feb. 4, ahead of the opening ceremony of the Olympics. In a joint statement, the leaders said the bond between their countries has "no limits," and they decried the expansion of NATO.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.