China told Russia to delay Ukraine invasion until end of Winter Olympics: Report

In early February, Chinese officials asked Russian officials to wait for the Winter Olympics to end before launching invasion of Ukraine, a New York Times report said citing Biden administration officials and a European official who cited a Western intelligence report.

The US-based newspaper said that the Chinese officials had some level of knowledge about Russia's plans or intentions to invade Ukraine before Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an all-out military attack last week.

The request was made around the time when Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Beijing for the opening ceremony of the Olympics during which he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, CNN reported said citing a US official associated with the intelligence report.

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However, it is not clear from the report whether Putin addressed the matter with Xi directly.

Reacting to the report, the Chinese Embassy in Washington called the claims “speculations without any basis”.

"The claims mentioned in the relevant reports are speculations without any basis, and are intended to blame-shift and smear China," said Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for the embassy.

The New York Times said the intelligence on the exchange between the Chinese and Russian officials was collected by a Western intelligence service and was considered credible by officials reviewing it.

Putin and Xi met at the start of the Olympics on February 4 and declared an upgraded “no limits” partnership in which they pledged to collaborate more against the West.

(With inputs from agencies)