Russia approved covert China training for troops, Reuters says
Belousov personally approved covert PLA training for Russian troops, including a November course on radiological and chemical defense and at least four generals on both sides.
Defense Minister Andrei Belousov approved the arrangement in August 2025, and the classified order explicitly sent Russian armed forces personnel to People’s Liberation Army facilities in China, with at least four Russian and Chinese generals involved in the operation.
The most recent course ran for three weeks in Beijing in November and focused on radiological, chemical and biological protection. Images from the training showed Russian soldiers being lectured by a Chinese instructor, studying a model nuclear reactor and learning chemical reconnaissance, radiation reconnaissance and how to protect ventilation systems from contamination. One European official said the subject was especially sensitive because such training has direct battlefield relevance and can also prepare forces for conflict environments beyond Ukraine.
On May 19, 2026, China’s armed forces secretly trained about 200 Russian military personnel in China late last year, and some later returned to fight in Ukraine. That training was laid out in a bilateral Russian-Chinese agreement signed in Beijing on July 2, 2025, and focused largely on drones, explosives, mines and electronic warfare systems. Chinese military personnel had been traveling to Russia for training since at least 2024.
At least four Russian and Chinese generals were involved in the operation. On June 15, 2026, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc had verified that China’s military had been training Russian personnel to fight in Ukraine and called Beijing a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s war.
Beijing rejected that accusation, saying the claims had no factual basis. Russia’s defense ministry and China’s defense ministry did not respond to requests for comment on the latest training, while China’s foreign ministry said its stance on the Ukraine crisis remained consistent. China and Russia have held more than 90 joint military exercises since 2003, nearly a third of them since February 2022, and 2024 was a record year for combined exercises and patrols.
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