Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of the North Atlantic Alliance, stated that there are signs that Russia has requested lethal aid from China to bolster the full-scale war in Ukraine.

"We haven’t seen any proof that China is delivering lethal weapons to Russia, but we have seen some signs that this has been a request from Russia, and that this is an issue that is considered in Beijing by the Chinese authorities," CNN quotes the NATO Secretary General who said this during the presentation of NATO's annual report in Brussels on Tuesday.

He warned China against providing lethal aid to Russia, which, according to the Secretary General, would be "to support an illegal war".

According to Stoltenberg, the visit of Chinese leader Xi Jinping to Russia and his meeting with Vladimir Putin signals the closer ties developing between Beijing and Moscow in recent years.

"We see how China and Russia are coming closer and closer in the military domain – joint exercises, joint patrols, naval and air patrols – in the economic domain and also in the political and diplomatic domain. So the meeting in Moscow is part of that pattern where China and Russia are working more and more closely and building a stronger and stronger partnership," he said.

The media previously reported that the US has intelligence data that the Chinese government is considering supplying Russia with attack drones and ammunition for use in the war in Ukraine.

The White House said that they made it clear to China behind closed doors that there would be serious consequences of providing lethal aid to Russia.