“Fen” cannot say if it was the need for money or that of moving who sent him to fight alongside the Russians in Ukraine. In any case, his decision had nothing political. “It was just going somewhere”Explain, seated in a corner of a tea house in a big Chinese city, this 37 -year -old man with short hair, who prefers to give only the nickname whose Russians have decked out: “Fen”. At the beginning of July 2023, he therefore embarked on a flight for Beijing, then on another for Moscow, decided to join the foreign mercenaries who joined the Russian army in his war in Ukraine. A conflict whose reasons leave him indifferent, affirms the one who, since his return, is a guardian of a building.
On social networks, notably Douyin, the Chinese version of Tiktok, The world was able to identify around forty accounts of Chinese affirming, in support, having engaged in the Russian forces. “Fen” only met seven of his compatriots on the front, but he estimates that a few hundred could have joined the battle. All left their own initiative, tourists. But their only presence could embarrass China, which claims to be neutral while Westerners criticize its diplomatic and commercial proximity to Moscow, whose armament industry depends on many Chinese components. Asked, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it does not have information on the subject.
Thousands of foreign fighters
Chinese mercenaries are probably less numerous than those from countries such as Nepal (more than 15,000 according to the American channel CNN) or North Korea – 11,000 soldiers sent by Pyongyang, according to the Pentagon. Indians and Malaysians, and many nationals of ex-Soviet republics also committed to the Russian side, while Ukraine also attracts thousands of foreign fighters, by political conviction or bait of gain.
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