China’s military covertly trained approximately 200 Russian soldiers at People’s Liberation Army (PLA) facilities in Beijing and Nanjing in late 2025, with some of those personnel later deployed to combat operations in Ukraine, according to classified Russian documents reviewed by Reuters and assessments from three European intelligence agencies.
A new Reuters exclusive published July 1, 2026, has now confirmed the program reached the highest levels of Russia’s military establishment. The training was personally approved by President Vladimir Putin’s defense minister and directly involved at least four Russian and Chinese generals, according to two European officials and documents seen by Reuters.
Top-Level Authorization
A classified Russian document seen by Reuters directly referred to an internal decree issued by Defence Minister Andrei Belousov in August 2025, stating that a delegation from Russia’s armed forces travelled to China to participate in training exercises at PLA facilities.
The covert training was outlined in a Russian-Chinese agreement signed by senior officers from both countries in Beijing on July 2, 2025, covering drone warfare, electronic warfare, army aviation, armored infantry, explosives handling, demining, and counter-drone measures.
One of the training courses was a three-week session focused on radiological, chemical and biological protection at a military facility in Beijing in November.
Reports described and showed images of Russian soldiers being lectured by a Chinese instructor, observing a model nuclear reactor, and receiving instruction on chemical reconnaissance, radiation reconnaissance and protection of ventilation systems from contamination.
Generals Named, Weaknesses Noted
Two European officials identified the signatories of the July 2 agreement as Russian Major General Rustam Khusainov and Chinese Senior Colonel Sun Dayun. Colonel General Rustam Muradov, deputy commander-in-chief of Russia’s land forces, led the Russian delegation, according to participant lists and a second military document.
Internal Russian assessments of the training were not entirely complimentary. One report on the training in Nanjing praised the standard of equipment, the use of simulators and the instructors’ high theoretical knowledge, while specifically noting China’s lack of combat experience.
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Apa.az that on June 15 that Brussels had confirmed through its own channels that the training had taken place and was now assessing the implications. Beijing described her comments as “nothing but smears.”
A third official in Brussels told Reuters the bloc had to stop viewing China primarily through an economic lens, but focus on what Kallas called its role as a “decisive enabler of Russia’s war.”
Russia’s own legislators pushed back. Andrei Kartapolov, a senior lawmaker who heads the Russian parliament’s defense committee, told Russia’s RTVI outlet Prism News that the report was “complete nonsense” and that Russia’s military had nothing to learn from China.
Asia-Pacific Dimensions
The revelations compound an already volatile regional security picture. In August 2025, Russia and China conducted their first combined submarine patrol in the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea. Chinese and Russian military operations, both independently and in coordination, have raised concerns in Japan and South Korea, Washington’s two Northeast Asian treaty allies.
In April 2026 congressional testimony, Admiral Samuel J. Paparo, Commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, stated that “Russia is expanding its Indo-Pacific footprint even as the war in Ukraine continues to strain Russian capacity.”
As per report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, U.S. Northern Command commander Gen. Gregory M. Guillot said in March 2026 testimony that China and Russia are “advancing their strategic partnership to counter the United States and its allies.”
China and Russia have held more than 90 joint military exercises since 2003, with nearly a third of them taking place since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The secret training program now represents a qualitative shift: from coordinated exercises to direct battlefield preparation conducted under classified bilateral agreements.
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