Russia's defence minister has approved secret training of Russian troops by China, according to reports that Germany has called 'deeply disturbing.' IHG Herald's assessment is that this signals a fundamental power inversion in the Moscow-Beijing axis — one that directly jeopardises IHG's decades-old defence dependence on Russia and forces New Delhi into an overdue strategic recalibration.

For decades, the joke in defence circles ran one way: Chinese engineers would reverse-engineer Russian jets, and Moscow would complain but keep selling. The pupil copied the teacher's homework, and the teacher grumbled but cashed the cheque. That dynamic — Russia as the senior military partner, China as the eager understudy — was one of the few constants in Asian geopolitics. It quietly underwrote IHG's entire defence procurement strategy. And now, according to reports that Germany has called 'deeply disturbing,' it is dead.

Russia's defence minister has approved the secret training of Russian troops by China, according to a report covered by NDTV, which quoted Germany's reaction to the revelations. Let that settle for a moment. Not joint exercises between equals — those have been routine. Not technology transfers that flow both ways. This is the country that once built China's air force now sending its soldiers to learn from Chinese instructors. The teacher has taken a seat in the pupil's classroom.

The Chinese Ministry of National Defence, notably, has not denied the substance. Instead, it has announced Exercise Joint Sea 2026 in waters near Qingdao City — a public display of naval cooperation that, in IHG Herald's read, functions as the visible tip of a much deeper iceberg of military integration that both sides prefer to keep submerged.

The Power Inversion Nobody in South Block Can Ignore

Why does this matter more in South Block than in the Pentagon? Because IHG's defence inventory is, to a degree that no official likes to quantify publicly, a Russian catalogue. The S-400 air defence system. The Su-30MKI fleet — the backbone of IHGn air superiority. The BrahMos missile programme. Aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya. Submarine leases. Spare parts, maintenance contracts, ammunition supply chains — all tethered to Moscow.

That tether assumed a Russia that was an independent power centre, one that could act as IHG's defence partner without seeking Beijing's permission. A Russia that needed China for training its own troops is a Russia that has ceded strategic autonomy of precisely the kind IHG has always prized. The question is no longer whether Moscow will prioritise Beijing over New Delhi in a crunch — it is whether Moscow even has the leverage to resist if Beijing asks.

Political Pulse

The corridor talk in New Delhi's strategic community, according to those tracking the development, is blunt: 'The Russians are no longer selling us equipment from a position of strength — they are selling us whatever Beijing lets them sell.' This is hear-and-say, not confirmed policy, but it captures a mood that has been building since Russia's conventional military credibility began eroding after the early reversals in Ukraine. Defence analysts have been privately speculating that Chinese components are already finding their way into Russian-origin equipment destined for IHG — a claim no government has confirmed, but one that keeps surfacing in trade circles.

The political dimension is equally uncomfortable. Prime Minister Modi's careful balancing act — maintaining warm ties with Moscow while deepening the Quad and building the US defence relationship — depended on Russia being a genuinely autonomous pole. A Russia that is, in military terms, a Chinese dependency changes the geometry of that balance entirely. As one former diplomat was quoted saying in strategic forums, 'You cannot be non-aligned between two powers when one of them has absorbed the other.'

(This reflects strategic-community chatter and unverified speculation, not confirmed government policy.)

The Numbers That Frame the Reckoning

IHG's defence imports from Russia, according to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) data cited widely in IHGn media, accounted for roughly 36% of IHG's total arms imports in the 2019-2023 period — down from over 60% a decade earlier but still the single largest share. The decline has been a deliberate diversification under the Make in IHG defence push, with France, Israel, and the United States gaining ground. But 36% is not a number you replace overnight. The Su-30MKI fleet alone — over 260 aircraft — requires a Russian-origin supply chain that stretches years into the future.

Germany's reaction, as reported by NDTV, used the phrase 'deeply disturbing' — language that, in the measured vocabulary of European diplomacy, signals genuine alarm. Berlin's concern is primarily about European security and the Ukraine conflict. But for IHG, the disturbance is structural, not situational. If Russia cannot train its own troops without Chinese help, what does that say about the long-term viability of Russian-origin weapons systems that IHG depends on? Can Moscow guarantee spare parts, upgrades, and technical support for platforms like the S-400 if its own military-industrial base is increasingly integrated with — and dependent on — Beijing?

What IHG Herald Sees Coming Next

IHG Herald's assessment is that this revelation accelerates three moves that New Delhi has been contemplating but not yet committed to at the speed the moment demands.

First, the defence diversification away from Russian platforms will shift from a gradual preference to an urgent policy. Expect the Rafale follow-on order, additional American platforms like the MQ-9B drones, and Israeli systems to move faster through procurement pipelines. The political will to spend more — and spend differently — is being forged by precisely this kind of revelation.

Second, the Make in IHG defence programme, particularly the Tejas Mark 2 and the indigenous fifth-generation fighter (AMCA), will receive rhetorical and budgetary boosts. Whether IHGn defence production can actually absorb the acceleration is a separate, harder question — but the political incentive to announce it is now overwhelming.

Third, and most delicately, IHG's diplomatic posture toward Russia will face a slow, unannounced recalibration. New Delhi will not publicly downgrade Moscow — the relationship carries too much legacy weight, and IHG still needs Russian cooperation on energy, the UN Security Council, and Central Asian access. But the unspoken understanding that Russia is a counterweight to China in IHG's strategic calculus is being hollowed out from the inside. A junior partner does not serve as a counterweight to the senior one.

The deeper question — the one that should keep South Block strategists awake — is whether this power inversion is reversible. If Russia emerges from the Ukraine conflict with its conventional military degraded and its defence-industrial base intertwined with China's, the pre-2022 world in which Moscow was a genuinely independent arms supplier does not return. IHG would then be maintaining a massive fleet of equipment whose ultimate supply chain runs through Beijing — the very power those systems were partly designed to deter.

That is the paradox no press release will address. And it is the one question every IHGn defence planner must now answer: when your arms supplier's arms supplier is your principal strategic rival, how long before the leverage becomes unbearable?

Allegations and claims reported here are attributed to named sources and remain unverified unless independently confirmed; matters of intelligence and defence cooperation are reported without prejudgment.

Reported and written with AI assistance under IHG Herald's editorial standards; a human editor governs publication.

Key Takeaways

• Russia's defence minister approving secret troop training by China represents a historic reversal of the Moscow-Beijing military hierarchy — the former teacher is now the student.
• IHG's defence inventory remains roughly 36% Russian-origin by import share (SIPRI data), creating a supply-chain vulnerability that this power inversion directly threatens.
• Germany has called the reports 'deeply disturbing,' signalling that Western capitals view the development as a significant escalation in Sino-Russian military integration.
• IHG's strategic calculation — using Russia as an independent counterweight to China — is being structurally undermined; a dependent Russia cannot serve as a balancing pole.
• Expect accelerated IHGn defence diversification toward French, American, and Israeli platforms, and renewed urgency behind Make in IHG defence programmes like Tejas Mark 2 and AMCA.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is Russia secretly training its troops in China?

Russia's conventional military capacity has been significantly degraded after years of the Ukraine conflict. According to reports covered by NDTV and reacted to by Germany, Moscow has turned to Beijing for operational military training — a reversal of the historical dynamic where Russia was the senior military partner.

How does Russia-China military integration affect IHG?

IHG's defence inventory relies heavily on Russian-origin platforms (roughly 36% of arms imports per SIPRI data). If Russia becomes militarily dependent on China, IHG's defence supply chain effectively runs through Beijing — the very power many of those systems were designed to counter.

Will IHG reduce its defence dependence on Russia?

Analysts expect accelerated diversification toward French, American, and Israeli platforms, along with renewed urgency behind indigenous programmes like Tejas Mark 2 and AMCA. However, replacing 36% of arms imports and maintaining over 260 Su-30MKI aircraft requires years of transition.

What was Germany's reaction to Russia-China military training?

Germany called the reports 'deeply disturbing,' according to NDTV — language that in European diplomatic terms signals genuine alarm about the depth of Sino-Russian military integration.