Chinese “Volunteers” Fighting for Russia Are Cooperating With Beijing’s Intelligence

All Chinese citizens fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine are cooperating with Chinese intelligence services — whether willingly or under pressure — according to a report published by ZN.UA, The Gaze reports.

Although China formally prohibits its citizens from participating in foreign military operations, local Chinese authorities do not prevent individuals from signing contracts with the Russian army. 

“I have no doubt that all Chinese who signed a contract with the Russian army, voluntarily or not, are cooperating with Chinese intelligence services,” a Ukrainian government source said.

Well-informed sources say that among the Chinese ‘volunteers,’ there are certainly representatives of Chinese intelligence services.

China has reportedly taken an active — if covert — interest in the war from its earliest stages. The People’s Liberation Army is believed to be studying how Western military technologies, similar to those used by Taiwan, perform under real combat conditions.

Chinese officers have even been seen visiting occupied parts of Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, observing how Russia employs drones, electronic warfare, and counter-battery tactics.

“Based on this experience, China is reforming its own army,” the report notes.

“Beijing is interested not just in the Russia–Ukraine war, but in the state of the Russian army and society… That is why it is important for Chinese intelligence to have their own mercenaries embedded among Russian soldiers.”

As The Gaze previously reported, Ukrainian forces have recently captured two Chinese citizens fighting for Russia. President Volodymyr Zelensky has also accused China of supplying Russia with artillery and gunpowder — claims that have been officially denied by Beijing.