Iryna Nesterova14:58, 19.05.26
The Russian training was stipulated in an agreement signed in July 2025 by high-ranking officers of the two countries in Beijing.
The Chinese military secretly trained about 200 Russian servicemen in late 2025 , some of whom returned to participate in the war against Ukraine after training, Reuters reported, citing three European intelligence agencies and documents seen by the agency.
According to journalists, the training took place on Chinese territory and mainly involved the use of drones, electronic warfare, army aviation, and armored infantry operations. The exercises were classified, and information about them was prohibited from being disseminated to the media or transferred to third parties.
According to Reuters, the Russian training was stipulated in a bilingual Russian-Chinese agreement signed on July 2, 2025, by senior officers from the two countries in Beijing. It also stated that hundreds of Chinese servicemen would be trained at military facilities in Russia.
According to one intelligence official, by training Russian military personnel who then go to fight in Ukraine, China is thus becoming much more involved in the war on the European continent than previously thought.Read also:
As two intelligence agencies noted, visits by Chinese troops to Russia for training purposes have been taking place since at least 2024, but the training of Russian personnel in China is a new phenomenon.
Intelligence services told reporters that a significant number of Russian servicemen who had been trained in China were high-level military instructors capable of passing on knowledge below the chain of command.
According to one intelligence report, the identities of several Russian servicemen who were trained in China and later directly participated in combat operations using drones in Crimea and the Zaporizhia region were confirmed. The ranks of these men ranged from junior sergeant to lieutenant colonel.
The names appear in a Russian military document seen by Reuters listing military personnel who went to China for training. The same intelligence agency said it was highly likely that many of those who trained in China went to Ukraine.
(c)UNIAN 2026