Putin personally approved secret military training with China

Introduction: the revelation that confirms Europe's worst fears

A classified document that speaks for itself

Reuters revealed on July 1, 2026, based on two European officials and documents reviewed by its journalists, that the secret military training China provided to Russian forces last year had been personally approved at the highest level of Russian power. A classified Russian document explicitly references an internal decree issued by Defense Minister Andrei Belousov in August 2025, authorizing a delegation of Russian armed forces to travel to China to take part in exercises at People's Liberation Army facilities.

This is not a simple technical exchange between two militaries. It is documented confirmation that Vladimir Putin, through his Defense minister, personally signed off on strategic military cooperation with Beijing, in the middle of a war of aggression against Ukraine. The signal sent to Europe and the Western world is unambiguous: the Moscow-Beijing axis is tightening, and it is tightening at the very top of the state.

Four generals, a pact sealed on July 2

Names, ranks, precise responsibilities

Reuters' report does not settle for vague claims: it names the officers involved directly. Russian Major General Rustam Khusainov and Chinese Senior Colonel Sun Dayun were identified by two European officials as the signatories of an agreement dated July 2, serving as the legal basis for this training. Other documents mention the involvement of Colonel General Rustam Muradov, deputy commander-in-chief of Russian ground forces, as well as Chinese Major General Li Jinsun, head of the PLA's Academy of radiological, chemical, and biological defense, and Russian Major General Vitaly Gerasimov.

The presence of officials at such a high rank, involved in training directly linked to the war in Ukraine, underscores the strategic importance Moscow and Beijing place on this military cooperation. This is not a low-level exchange organized by junior officers: it is a decision made and carried out at the very top of the military hierarchy of both countries.

Three weeks in Beijing, high-risk training

Chemical, radiological, and biological warfare

At the heart of this cooperation is a three-week training session, held in November at a military facility in Beijing, focused on radiological, chemical, and biological protection. The topics covered explicitly included "chemical reconnaissance," "radiological reconnaissance," and protecting ventilation systems against contamination — skills directly applicable to a high-intensity conventional or hybrid war setting.

Russian soldiers were photographed receiving instruction from a Chinese trainer and observing a nuclear reactor model. A separate report on training conducted in Nanjing praised the quality of the equipment, the use of sophisticated simulators, and the high theoretical level of the Chinese instructors, while noting, not without irony, the Chinese military's lack of real combat experience.

Two hundred Russian soldiers, already sent to the front

A direct link to the war in Ukraine

An earlier Reuters report, published the previous month, revealed that China had trained roughly 200 Russian troops in November, and that some of them had since joined the front in Ukraine. This detail fundamentally changes the nature of the story: it is no longer an abstract military partnership between two authoritarian powers, but concrete, direct support for Russia's war effort against a sovereign European nation.

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas confirmed on June 15 that Brussels had verified, through its own intelligence channels, that this training had indeed taken place. The EU is now assessing the implications of this confirmation and discussing additional measures to take in response.

Beijing denies, but the facts speak

A line of defense that no longer convinces anyone

China's foreign ministry categorically rejected these accusations, stating that its position on the Ukrainian crisis has remained consistent and that "the allegations in question are entirely baseless." Beijing continues to present itself as a neutral mediator in the war between Russia and Ukraine, a façade that these revelations make harder to sustain by the day.

On the Russian side, the Kremlin declined to comment on Reuters' initial report but complained of "false information" being published in the West. General Andrei Kartapolov went further, calling the report "pure nonsense" and claiming the Russian military had nothing to learn from China — a statement that flatly contradicts the very content of the documents cited by Reuters.

Europe forced to rethink its approach to China

The economic weight of the Sino-European relationship

The trade relationship between the European Union and China remains substantial, with hundreds of billions of euros in annual trade. This economic interdependence has historically complicated any firm political response from Brussels toward Beijing, a dilemma this revelation makes all the more acute.

Some member states, more economically dependent on China than others, could resist a broad hardening of European policy, creating internal tensions within the Union itself over the best response to take.

A third European official sounds the alarm

A third official, based in Brussels, offered a particularly striking assessment to Reuters: the European Union must stop viewing China primarily through an economic lens and focus instead on its role as a "decisive enabler of Russia's war." This framing marks a potential break from decades of European diplomacy centered on trade interests with Beijing.

The European Union has already imposed sanctions on Chinese companies accused of supporting Russia's war effort. But this revelation about the direct, personal involvement of Russia's Defense minister could accelerate a broader hardening of European policy toward China, going well beyond targeted economic sanctions.

An alliance that goes far beyond diplomatic rhetoric

Ukraine's stance on this revelation

Kyiv watches every new piece of evidence of military cooperation between Russia and China with particular attention. Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly called on their Western partners to acknowledge Beijing's role as an enabler in the continuation of the war, a message that now carries added weight thanks to this Reuters investigation.

ForUkraine, every new revelation of this kind is one more argument for securing greater Western military support, against a Russian adversary that clearly benefits from structured international logistical and technical backing.

From rhetoric of neutrality to concrete military acts

Since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Beijing has consistently insisted on its proclaimed neutrality, while maintaining close economic and diplomatic ties with Moscow. This revelation about secret military training definitively shatters that narrative of neutrality: you do not train the soldiers of a country at war, in skills as sensitive as chemical and radiological warfare, while claiming to remain impartial in the very conflict it is waging.

The sophistication of this cooperation — signed agreements, named generals, weeks-long specialized training — suggests a structured, lasting military relationship, not an isolated or improvised gesture. It is the mark of a strategic axis being built methodically, out of the spotlight, for months if not years.

The precedent of sanctions and the question of their effectiveness

The role of the United States in the Western response

Washington is also closely watching this revelation, in a context where the American administration is seeking to maintain coordinated pressure with its European allies on Russia and China. Congress could use these revelations to justify new legislative measures aimed at further sanctioning Chinese entities linked to Russia's war effort.

This transatlantic coordination remains essential to ensuring a coherent response to an authoritarian axis that, for its part, appears to coordinate its actions with formidable efficiency.

Measures already taken, but are they enough?

The European Union has sanctioned several Chinese companies deemed complicit in supporting Russia's war effort, but these targeted measures now appear insufficient given the scale of military cooperation revealed by Reuters. Sanctioning private companies is not enough if the very top of China's military apparatus is directly involved in training soldiers bound for the Ukrainian front.

The question now facing Brussels, Washington, and other Western capitals is one of proportionality. If China is actively training the armed forces of a country waging a war of aggression, targeted economic measures seem derisory next to the strategic scale of this direct military collaboration.

North Korea, another piece of the authoritarian puzzle

A three-way axis taking clear shape

This revelation about Sino-Russian military cooperation fits into a broader context already documented by numerous Western sources: the deployment of North Korean troops to support Russia's war effort, the supply of munitions by Pyongyang, and now the training of Russian soldiers by China. These three elements outline an increasingly coordinated authoritarian axis, whose shared goal remains challenging the rules-based international order the West has upheld since the end of World War II.

Iran completes this picture with its supply of drones and military technology to Russia. Four authoritarian regimes — Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran — are today coordinating, to varying degrees, direct or indirect support for the war of aggression waged against Ukraine, a sovereign European country fighting for its very survival.

The limits of Western transparency against Russo-Chinese secrecy

European intelligence put to the test

One point deserves more attention than it usually gets: this revelation would never have come to light without the meticulous work of European intelligence services and Reuters investigative journalists, who had to cross-reference classified Russian documents with the testimony of European officials. This rigorous verification work shows just how much transparency about Russia's and China's military activities remains a constant battle, waged against state machinery accustomed to secrecy and disinformation.

Without this independent verification capacity, Beijing's and Moscow's official version — one of Chinese neutrality and a self-sufficient Russian army — would have remained the dominant narrative. This underscores the critical importance of maintaining and strengthening Western intelligence capabilities against adversaries increasingly sophisticated in their concealment operations.

What this revelation means for support to Ukraine

Renewed urgency for Kyiv's allies

ForUkraine, this confirmation of Sino-Russian military cooperation directly tied to the conflict cannot be ignored by its Western allies. If Russian soldiers trained by China in chemical and radiological warfare skills are now fighting on the Ukrainian front, this strengthens the urgency for the West to maintain, if not intensify, its military and financial support to Kyiv against an adversary that benefits from increasingly structured international backing.

This revelation should also weigh on discussions within NATO and the European Union about collective defense capabilities against hybrid threats combining multiple authoritarian actors. Ukraine is no longer fighting Russia alone: it is fighting, indirectly, a coordinated support network involving several authoritarian regimes.

The gray areas that remain despite the revelation

What Reuters could not fully confirm

It is important to be honest about the limits of this revelation: while the documents cited by Reuters and the testimony of European officials are solid, several questions remain open. The exact scale of this military cooperation, its future frequency, and the total number of Russian soldiers trained beyond the 200 already identified remain unclear. Reuters cites precise sources and documents, but acknowledges relying on partial information, necessarily limited by the classified nature of the file.

Likewise, the exact scope of measures the European Union might adopt in response remains to be determined. Kaja Kallas indicated that Brussels "is assessing the implications," a cautious phrasing that prejudges no concrete decisions to come. This story will likely continue to evolve in the weeks and months ahead, as more information emerges.

The responsibility to call things by their name

Rejecting diplomatic euphemism

Faced with such a revelation, the temptation is strong, in certain Western diplomatic circles, to downplay the scale of this cooperation in order to preserve economic dialogue channels with Beijing. This temptation must be firmly resisted. Calling things by their name — direct military cooperation between China and Russia, approved by their highest-ranking defense officials, in service of a war of aggression against a sovereign European country — is a prerequisite for any coherent, effective Western response.

History will judge harshly the Western democracies that chose to look away from this documented evidence out of sheer diplomatic caution or short-term economic interest. Clarity of language always precedes clarity of political action.

The historical context of mutual distrust turned alliance

A geopolitical shift with deep roots

International relations analysts note that this Sino-Russian rapprochement did not begin only with the invasion of Ukraine, but has been accelerating gradually since the mid-2010s, as tensions between Moscow and Beijing and the West intensified. Converging interests against Western hegemony have gradually supplanted historical mistrust.

This long-term geopolitical shift confirms that the military cooperation revealed by Reuters is not an isolated accident, but the logical culmination of a strategic trajectory set in motion more than a decade ago.

Former rivals turned strategic partners

It is worth remembering that the relationship between Moscow and Beijing has not always been so harmonious. For decades during the Cold War, China and the Soviet Union clashed ideologically and militarily, notably during the 1969 border conflict. This history of rivalry makes the current transformation of their relationship into active, documented military cooperation all the more significant.

The accelerated rapprochement since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 shows how quickly realpolitik can erase decades of mutual distrust once the strategic interests of two regimes converge against a perceived common adversary: the international order dominated by the West.

Conclusion: a documented turning point in the authoritarian axis

Lessons for Western defense doctrine

This revelation forces a revision of Western military planning assumptions, which must now account for the possibility of broader Chinese technical and logistical support to Russia's war effort than previously assumed. NATO general staffs are likely reassessing, in light of this information, their escalation scenarios involving Russia and China simultaneously.

This reality also strengthens the case for greater investment in Western collective defense capabilities, including protection against the chemical, biological, and radiological threats directly mentioned in the Reuters report.

A fact that reshuffles the strategic deck

ThisReuters revelation, backed by classified documents and precise testimony from European officials, marks a turning point in Western understanding of the Sino-Russian relationship. This is no longer an analyst's hypothesis, but a documented fact: Russia's Defense minister personally approved secret military training with China, involving high-ranking generals and soldiers now deployed on the Ukrainian front.

Faced with this reality, Europe and its Western allies must rethink their approach to Beijing, ceasing to artificially separate economic interests from geopolitical responsibility. China is no longer merely a complex trading partner: it is, in the very words of a European official cited by Reuters, a "decisive enabler" of Russia's war against Ukraine.

The role of civil society and investigative journalism

Without the tireless work of investigative journalists and the courage of anonymous sources willing to confirm sensitive information, this secret military cooperation would likely have remained hidden for much longer. This underscores, once again, the critical importance of free, independent investigative journalism in the face of authoritarian regimes accustomed to secrecy.

Western civil society, through its media and civic organizations, plays an essential watchdog role that governments themselves cannot always fulfill alone, constrained as they are by diplomatic considerations.

The urgency of a response that matches the facts

The era of half-measures and symbolic sanctions appears to be over given the scale of this direct military cooperation. The West must now craft a coherent strategic response that fully acknowledges Beijing's active role in supporting Russian aggression, rather than continuing to treat each revelation as an isolated incident unconnected to the ones before it.

The future of Ukraine, the credibility of the rules-based international order, and the security of the entire European continent depend directly on the West's ability to respond firmly to this increasingly open authoritarian alliance between Moscow and Beijing.

By Maxime Marquette, columnist

Columnist's transparency note

Who I am and my acknowledged biases

I am a pro-Ukraine, pro-Western columnist, convinced that Russia and China represent the two greatest strategic threats to the current international order. This article relies exclusively on Reuters' exclusive investigation, a top-tier journalistic source recognized for the rigor of its verification, and on public statements from European and Chinese officials cited in that same report.

I did not personally access any classified document, and I do not claim to have information beyond what Reuters has published. My role is to analyze and contextualize these revelations, not to supplement them with unverified elements.

What I don't know

I do not know the exact scale of this military cooperation beyond what Reuters has cited, nor the precise timeline of any future training sessions. Nor do I know what concrete measures the European Union will adopt in response to this revelation, with Kaja Kallas having simply stated that Brussels "is assessing the implications" without detailing firm decisions.

Sources

Primary sources

Reuters — Russia approved secret military training with China at the highest level, July 1, 2026

The Guardian — Tensions between China and Japan, July 2, 2026

Secondary sources

Foreign Policy — Analysis of Sino-Russian cooperation

Military Times — Coverage of defense issues in Europe and Asia

19FortyFive — Defense analysis on the China-Russia axis

The Guardian International — Coverage of global geopolitical tensions