China Complains Of “Irresponsible Remarks” After Capture Of Citizens Fighting For Russia
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday that “parties” in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine should not make “irresponsible remarks”, after Ukrainian President Volodmyr Zelensky said Beijing was aware of Russian attempts to recruit Chinese citizens to join the Russian military and fight in Ukraine.
In response to a question about Zelensky’s comments, foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said “I would like to reiterate that China is not the initiator of the Ukrainian crisis, nor is China a participating party. We are a firm supporter and active promoter of a peaceful settlement of the crisis”.
While not directly referencing Zelensky or Ukraine, he continued: “We urge the relevant parties concerned to correctly and soberly understand the role of China and to not release irresponsible remarks”, insisting that Beijing has always advised its citizens to avoid conflict zones.
On Wednesday, the Security Service of Ukraine released photographs of the passports of two Chinese nationals captured by Ukrainian troops in recent fighting in Donetsk Oblast. One was captured by the 2nd Battalion of the Ukrainian Army’s 157th Mechanised Brigade near the village of Tarasivka, while the other was captured by servicemen of the 1st Battalion of the 81st Airmobile Brigade near the village of Bilohorivka.
A video recording of part of their interrogation was also released. While the video did not provide any information on where the respective prisoners were captured, one of the prisoners said that before the group of soldiers he was in surrendered to Ukrainian forces, they had been separated from a larger Russian unit containing two more Chinese nationals. He said he had no knowledge of what happened to them after being separated.
The Ukrainian military’s Luhansk Operational Tactical Group had previously stated to Ukrainska Pravda that the Chinese national captured near Bilohorivka had joined the Russian military in the hopes of getting Russian citizenship.
After their capture, Zelensky said Kyiv has knowledge of at least 155 Chinese nationals in the Russian military fighting in Ukraine. “We have passport data for these 155, their origins, their Chinese documents, ages, etc. Also, their places of service: the 70th, 71st, 255th motorised rifle regiments and so on”, said Zelensky during a press conference.
Chinese nationals have made claims of being volunteers in the Ukrainian or Russian militaries due to both nation’s willingness to recruit foreign fighters, but the two soldiers are the first Chinese nationals fighting for Russia known to have been captured by Ukrainian troops. In November, “Farias” Peng Chenliang, a Chinese national who volunteered to join Ukraine’s International Legion, was reported to have been killed in action at the end of October. He was the first Chinese national confirmed to have fought on the side of Ukraine, and the first to be killed in action doing so.