Captured Chinese Recruits Say Russia Withheld Pay for Fighting in Ukraine

Two Chinese nationals, Wang Guangjun and Zhang Renbo, who were captured by Ukrainian forces while fighting for Russia, have revealed that Russian authorities withheld their pay and concealed the terms of their military service.

At a press conference in Kyiv on April 14, one of the detainees, Renbo, said he was issued a bank card with 200,000 rubles, (approximately $2,200 at the time) but was unable to access the funds.

“I got a banking card on which I got 200,000 rubles, but I was not able to use that card,” Zhang said, speaking through an interpreter.

He added that he had to rely on another Chinese national to transfer money to his phone account. The funds, he said, were then confiscated by Russian personnel “under the pretext of paying for fuel.”

The second detainee, Wang from Jiangxi Province, told Ukrainian journalists that he and other recruits were not informed in advance of how much they would be paid.

“They hid all this information from us until we got to the place. Otherwise, we were not informed at all. We didn’t know how much we were supposed to receive,” he said.

At the press conference, Wang said he had been drawn in by a professionally produced recruitment video on TikTok that promised free travel.

“I started talking with the recruiter about the actual service. It is very prestigious in China to serve on the force so that got me interested. The money was attractive and the recruit offered to pay all of the travel expenses.”

Both men were captured by Ukrainian forces and identified themselves in videos released by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on April 8 and 9. Zelenskyy claimed that Ukrainian intelligence has identified at least 163 Chinese nationals fighting on behalf of Russia and alleged that Beijing has failed to prevent its citizens from joining the war against Ukraine.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded by stating that it was verifying Ukraine’s claims and reiterated that it does not support its nationals’ participation “in any party’s military operations.”

In related news, at least 51 Chinese nationals enlisted in the Russian military between June 2023 and May 2024 through a recruitment center in Moscow.

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