European Security — 2026-07-05

Germany Summons Chinese Ambassador Over Reports PLA Trained Russian Soldiers Deployed to Ukraine

BLUFBerlin's formal protest confirms European governments now treat PLA training of Russian troops as credible, yet absent independent corroboration, the diplomatic sequence is unlikely to produce concrete punitive measures against Beijing.

Germany's foreign ministry summoned China's ambassador in Berlin on Thursday for urgent talks over reports that Chinese military personnel trained Russian soldiers, calling the accounts "deeply disturbing" 12. Reuters reported, citing reviewed documents, that the training was personally authorized via an August 2025 decree from Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov and involved senior Chinese and Russian officials, including instruction on radiological, chemical and biological protection at Chinese facilities in November 2025, with Colonel General Rustam Muradov leading the roughly 200-strong Russian delegation and PLA Major General Li Jinsun taking part 34. The German ministry said any support enabling Russia's war against Ukraine "represents a threat to our security" 13. China's foreign ministry called the allegations "entirely unfounded" and reiterated its stated neutrality in the conflict 3. The summons follows a May 20 report in Die Welt, citing classified European intelligence documents, that Chinese army personnel had secretly trained several hundred Russian soldiers, some of whom were later deployed to Ukraine 1.

Analysis
Germany's summons elevates the PLA training claims from open-source reporting to formal diplomatic protest, treating the allegations as credible enough to warrant confrontation rather than quiet inquiry. Reuters' specificity, naming Belousov's personal authorization and radiological, chemical and biological instruction, raises the stakes beyond the vaguer May Die Welt disclosure, though the account traces to a single AFP wire carried by The Standard, with Hong Kong Free Press, UNN and AnewZ reproducing that same wire rather than reporting independently. Beijing's flat denial and reiterated neutrality claim leaves no diplomatic off-ramp short of continued German and EU pressure, and the move marks an escalation from the June 14 EU acknowledgment of Chinese training to a formal ambassador summons. Berlin's step may instead function as calibrated signaling ahead of coordinated EU messaging rather than a precursor to unilateral action against Beijing. Confidence in this assessment is moderate, reflecting the documented diplomatic sequence but the lack of corroboration beyond the single wire report.

3 sources

Germany summons Chinese envoy over reported training of Russian troops - Hong Kong Free Press
Germany summons Chinese envoy over reported training of Russian troops - The Standard (AFP)
Germany summoned China's ambassador over reports of training Russian soldiers - UNN (Ukrainian National News)