Leaked: Putin Secretly Approved Covert Russian Military Training in China
Russian President Vladimir Putin, through his Defence Minister, reportedly gave top-secret approval for his military forces to participate in covert training in China last year. The sensitive military exercise, which directly involved at least four senior generals from both countries, was detected by Western intelligence and immediately triggered a high state of alert across Europe.
Citing a report by The Straits Times based on leaked secret Kremlin documents, one of the main focuses of this military cooperation was a three-week crash course held at a military facility in Beijing last November. The intensive course focused on radiological, chemical, and biological defence.
Photographs and intelligence reports show moments when Russian soldiers listened to lectures from Chinese instructors and studied a mock-up model of a nuclear reactor. They were also trained in chemical reconnaissance tactics, radiation reconnaissance, and the protection of air ventilation systems from hazardous substance contamination.
The military documents detail that the Russian armed forces delegation was sent specifically to various facilities of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA). The involvement of these high-ranking officers was the result of an internal directive from Defence Minister Andrei Belousov in August 2025.
Based on the participant manifest, the Russian delegation was led directly by Colonel General Rustam Muradov, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Forces. The agenda also involved Major General Vitaly Gerasimov and Major General Rustam Khusainov.
From Beijing, Major General Li Jinsun, head of the PLA’s Radiological, Chemical, and Biological Defence Military Academy, along with Senior Colonel Sun Dayun, were recorded as co-signatories of the cooperation agreement document.
The examined internal Russian military documents show a mixed assessment of the training performance in the cities of Nanjing and Bengbu. The Russian report praised the highly modern standard of Chinese combat equipment, the use of advanced simulators, and the very high level of theoretical knowledge of the PLA instructors.
However, the document critically noted that the Chinese military still has a major weakness, namely a lack of real combat experience in the field. Russia itself has accumulated massive combat experience over more than four years in Ukraine, while the Chinese military has not been involved in open warfare in recent decades.
This secret move drew sharp attention because Beijing has repeatedly claimed a neutral position and acted as a peace mediator in the Ukraine conflict. Although the European Union has imposed sanctions on several Chinese corporations accused of supporting Moscow’s logistics, the discovery of this combat training has forced the 27-nation bloc to hold closed-door discussions to consider tougher trade retaliation.
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, confirmed that Brussels had verified the activity through independent intelligence channels. On the other hand, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs immediately issued a strong denial of the European allegations.
“The related accusations are completely unfounded. Our stance on the Ukraine crisis remains consistent,” refuted an official statement from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, dismissing the report.
Similar condemnation was also voiced by the Chairman of the Russian Parliament’s Defence Committee, Andrei Kartapolov. He called the Western intelligence report a cheap and fabricated provocation.
“The reports about the training are complete nonsense, and the Russian military has nothing to learn from China,” Kartapolov snapped to RTVI media.