China Secretly Trained Russian Troops for Ukraine
As Putin arrived in Beijing for his meeting with Xi Jinping, the Kremlin and Chinese state media celebrated what both governments described as an “unprecedented” relationship built on expanding trade, deepening military and energy cooperation, growing use of the ruble and yuan in bilateral trade, and a shared vision for a new “multipolar” world order designed to challenge Western influence. In reality, Russia’s economic isolation and dependence on Chinese markets, technology, and financial systems have reduced Moscow to China’s junior partner.
The timing is difficult to ignore, as Putin’s visit comes just days after Trump returned from Beijing, where he lavished praise on Xi during a theatrical spectacle even as U.S. intelligence points to deepening military coordination between China, Russia, and Iran. Behind the diplomatic theater in Beijing, new reporting suggests the relationship between Moscow and Beijing has become something far more consequential.
According to Reuters and secret documents reviewed by WELT, China covertly trained around 200 Russian troops on Chinese soil in late 2025, including drone operators, electronic warfare specialists, and combat personnel later deployed to illegally occupied Crimea and Zaporizhzhia Oblast. The training took place under a confidential Russian-Chinese military agreement signed in Beijing in July 2025 that explicitly barred media coverage and disclosure to third parties.
The training focused heavily on FPV drones, electronic warfare, army aviation, armored combat, explosives handling, and battlefield coordination — areas that have become central to Russia’s genocidal war against Ukraine and increasingly important for China’s own military planning surrounding Taiwan. According to the reporting, Russian troops trained at facilities in Beijing, Nanjing, Shijiazhuang, Zhengzhou, and Yibin.
The revelations are especially significant because they underscore that the relationship between Moscow and Beijing has evolved far beyond economic, military, and diplomatic support. Alongside Iran and North Korea, Russia and China have been using Ukraine as a testing ground for drone warfare, electronic warfare, sanctions evasion schemes, battlefield logistics, and the limits of Western deterrence.
The cooperation has been reciprocal. Last year, reporting from RUSI revealed that Russia had been training Chinese airborne and special operations forces inside Russia while transferring battlefield-tested military equipment and tactical knowledge tied to a potential invasion of Taiwan, as Xi has reportedly directed the PLA to be prepared for a military seizure of the island by 2027. Russian specialists reportedly trained PLA forces in airborne assault operations, reconnaissance, armored deployment, command coordination, and large-scale air maneuver warfare, including how to deploy armored vehicles and special forces deep behind enemy lines during high-intensity combat operations.
Yet hours after returning from Beijing, Trump openly signaled uncertainty over whether he would honor a Congressionally approved $14 billion weapons package for Taiwan, describing U.S. arms sales to the island as a possible “negotiating chip” with Beijing.
Taken together, the emerging picture goes far beyond weapons sales or joint military exercises. Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea have been steadily building an interconnected network that shares battlefield lessons, military technology, intelligence, and operational tactics while preparing for future confrontation with the West.
That cooperation has expanded dramatically since Russia launched its genocidal invasion.
China has become Russia’s most important economic lifeline since the start of its full-scale invasion, purchasing massive quantities of sanctioned Russian oil and helping Moscow blunt the impact of Western sanctions. In 2024, NATO formally labeled China a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s war effort, citing Beijing’s support for Russia’s defense industrial base through dual-use technology transfers, electronics, raw materials, and industrial components.
Chinese firms have helped sustain Russia’s war machine through sprawling sanctions evasion networks that funnel dual-use technology, drone components, navigation systems, microchips, optics, and industrial equipment into Russia disguised as civilian or commercial exports. Since 2022, Ukrainian investigators and intelligence agencies have repeatedly uncovered Chinese-made components inside Russian missiles, drones, electronic warfare systems, and other weapons used to murder Ukrainians.
Meanwhile, the Russia-China partnership is also becoming increasingly tied to Iran. As the United States and Israel launched joint military operations against Iran, U.S. intelligence agencies reportedly detected signs that China was considering covert arms transfers to Tehran, including MANPADS, radar systems, missile components, dual-use electronics, and military-related supplies routed through third countries to obscure their origins. The New York Times and CBS News reported that Chinese companies and Iranian officials discussed secret weapons transfers while Beijing continued purchasing the overwhelming majority of Iran’s sanctioned oil exports.
Simultaneously, Russia has reportedly provided Iran with satellite intelligence, drone support, and military logistics as Tehran and Moscow continue helping each other bypass sanctions and trade weapons via the Caspian Sea. The Caspian has long functioned as a shadow corridor between Iran and Russia for covert trade, military transfers, and drone components — something Ukrainians have warned about for years.
Despite the growing cooperation, Russia and China are not natural allies built on deep trust. Their relationship has historically been shaped by rivalry, border disputes, competing ambitions, and decades of mutual suspicion stretching back to the Soviet era. Even a few years ago, Russian authorities arrested multiple scientists working on hypersonic missiles on accusations of passing sensitive information to China, underscoring the distrust that still exists. But Russia’s full-scale invasion and the broader confrontation with the West have accelerated a rapidly deepening alignment built on shared strategic interests and a common objective of overturning the U.S.-led international order.
That broader convergence is increasingly alarming Western security officials.
Last year, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte warned that a future Chinese attack on Taiwan could coincide with Russian escalation against NATO territory, with Moscow potentially acting as Beijing’s increasingly dependent junior partner to distract the Alliance and divide Western resources between Europe and the Pacific.
Against this backdrop, Trump continues to dismantle many of the alliances and pressure mechanisms designed to contain those threats. While Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran deepen military, economic, and strategic coordination, Trump has repeatedly undermined NATO cohesion, pressured allies, extended sanctions waivers for Russian oil exports, pulled U.S. troops from Europe, and is openly cozying up to Putin and Xi even as U.S. intelligence agencies warn about the growing threat they pose — actions that are eroding Western deterrence and directly endangering U.S. national security.
Even as Western governments acknowledge the growing coordination between Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea, those regimes are deepening their alliance faster than the West is preparing to counter it. Unless that changes quickly, the West risks sleepwalking into a far broader confrontation already being planned by its adversaries.
Leaked Russian Documents Reveal Growing Strain Inside Russia’s Economy
Earlier today, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy revealed that Ukrainian intelligence had obtained internal Russian documents exposing what the Kremlin does not want the world or its citizens to see. According to Zelenskyy, the documents detail mounting strain across Russia’s oil sector, banking system, federal budget, and industrial base while also exposing efforts to bypass sanctions, attract foreign investment, and involve outside companies in sustaining parts of Russia’s wartime economy.
Olga your reporting is exceptional. And this is all very frightening. Thank you for shining a much needed light on it.
Russia is losing eastern parts of Russia to China. Russia captured and absorbed these areas that were once Chinese decades ago. However recently, these areas of eastern Russia have been undergoing Chinese conversion. The street signs formally in Cyrillic are now in Mandarin. This is a huge loss for Russia.