Chinese army accused of secretly training hundreds of Russian soldiers, some deployed in Ukraine | TF1 Info

• Beijing is said to have secretly trained several hundred Russian soldiers on its territory, some of whom were deployed in Ukraine.
• The German newspaper “Die Welt”, at the origin of these revelations, relies on classified documents from European intelligence services.

Are the various cooperations between Moscow and Beijing in full swing? The Chinese army would have secretly trained several hundred Russian soldiers on its territory, some of whom would have been deployed on the front in Ukraine, reported Tuesday May 20 The world (nouvelle fenêtre)based on classified documents from European intelligence services.

According to the German daily, which does not identify the European intelligence services at the origin of these revelations, several hundred Russian soldiers would have participated at the end of 2025, on six different military sites in China, in training programs for the People’s Liberation Army. These focused on “the use of unmanned systems, electronic countermeasures against drones as well as modern combat simulations”continues the newspaper.

The participants were of different ranks and from different generations. Some were members of Russia’s elite Rubicon unit, which specializes in drones. At the end of the training, dozens of them would have participated in combat in Ukraine at the beginning of 2026, including some in command posts, according to The world.

These revelations, which could not be independently confirmed by AFP, occur in the middle of a summit bringing together the two allied leaders, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, this Wednesday in Beijing. German foreign intelligence, the BND, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AFP.

Around 600 Chinese soldiers trained in 2025?

This information “are consistent with the developments that we have observed in recent years”Marc Henrichmann, chairman of the secret services control committee in the Bundestag, told German media Handelsblatt. Since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022, “We are observing ever closer cooperation between Moscow and Beijing, both in the military and economic fields”at-il raised.

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Moscow is also said to have secretly trained around 600 Chinese soldiers last year, mainly concerning “armored troops, artillery, military engineering and anti-aircraft defense”d’après The world.