Interesting and most likely true
Xi and Putin formally hailed a “no limits” partnership between their countries when they met in Beijing in February just 20 days before Russia’s president ordered his military into Ukraine.
But according to four people briefed on the February meeting, Xi was caught off-guard by an invasion that Putin did not warn him of in advance — thus jeopardising the safety of thousands of Chinese nationals then living in Ukraine.
“Putin didn’t tell Xi the truth,” a Chinese official told the Financial Times.
“If he had told us, we wouldn’t have been in such an awkward position,” the official added. “We had more than 6,000 Chinese nationals living in Ukraine and some of them died during the evacuation [although] we can’t make that public.”
In a speech last month, Putin said he did not tell his “close friend” Xi of the impending invasion in February. The Russian president added that the strength of the countries’ relationship was “unprecedented”.


