Russia Agreed to Equip & Train China’s Airborne Battalion — Leaked Files Reveal

According to leaked documents, which the leading think tank reviewed, Russia has agreed to assist china equip and train an airborne battalion, which shows that the military collaborations between Beijing and Moscow are becoming more and more profound.

In 2023, Russia consented to provide a number of military gear to the individuals of the Chinese People Liberation Army (PLA), such as assault vehicles, anti-tank guns, and airborne armored personnel carriers, as per papers leaked by the Black Moon hacktivist group and confirmed by the British think tank the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).

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They would equip the armored vehicles with Chinese comms and command-and-control suites, and Russian would train a battalion of Chinese paratroopers to operate them, as per the nearly 800 pages of contracts and other materials analyzed by RUSI.

According to the terms of the agreement, Russia would also export technologies to China, which will enable it to produce similar weapons, as the review of the documents by RUSI shows.

The agreement, when in full effect, would strengthen the air maneuver capabilities of China one of the few areas that Moscow military still has an advantage over the PLA. And the progress there would one day perhaps enable China to accomplish its goal of seizing Taiwan the self-governing island of 23 million which Beijing regards as part of its territory.

The Philippines is not the only country with which China overlaps in the South China Sea with their territorial claims. Ships of both nations are in constant conflict in the area, and Beijing is more demanding when it comes to claims.

CNN has not independently examined the leaked documents and it is also unclear whether the deal has been implemented in totality. CNN has sent messages to the Ministry of National Defense in China and the defense ministry in Russia to comment.

Russia and China have been exchanging weapons since the 1990s, yet over the last ten years military cooperation has grown stronger as the relationship between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping has thawed, which has sounded alarm bells in Washington.

Xi, Putin and North Korean president Kim Jong Un were side by side a month ago at a Chinese military parade, a first time unity against the US and its allies.

The relationship between Moscow and Beijing is becoming more and more crucial in terms of fulfilling their specific objectives. Back in January Putin announced the bilateral relationship to be at an unprecedented peak as the two nations allegedly signed a deal to construct a groundbreaking new pipeline to deliver natural gas to China through Mongolia. Moscow has been increasingly looking to China to take the place of Europe as its key gas purchaser after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

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Both Moscow and Beijing have also been increasing their combined military exercises over the last several years, such as joint naval patrols in Japanese waters, air and sea patrols off Alaska. According to the reports in state-run media they made their first joint submarine patrol in the Pacific in August.

According to the Center of Strategic and international Studies, China and Russia held 14 combined military exercises in the year 2024, the highest number of exercises that the two nations had held together since 2003.

The most advantageous aspect of the deal of 2023 to Beijing, as RUSI fellows believe, would be the training of the airborne battalion, as the military of Russia has battle experience in this direction, while Chinese lacks it.

Should China attack Taiwan, an air maneuver would probably be the most successful mode of putting essential troops and equipment on the island during the initial phases of an operation - though any effort to invade and occupy the island would probably entail a massive and extraordinarily challenging amphibious operation.

The training would be provided in two stages, part in Russia and part in China according to the agreement. The Chinese airborne battalion would then be trained by Russian teachers in training grounds in China where the soldiers would be prepared to land, control fire and manoeuvre.

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