Are Vietnamese and Laotian soldiers fighting with the Russian Army against Ukraine?

Social media users claimed that a video posted online on January 16, 2025 shows either North Korean or Vietnamese soldiers in Kursk. However, this video was not filmed along the Ukrainian frontlines.

Social media users have been sharing different theories about a video posted on social media on January 16 that appears to show Asian soldiers in Russia. Some think the men in the video are North Korean soldiers, while others claim they are from Laos and Vietnam. Whatever their origin, many social media users seem to think that the men in the video are fighting alongside the Russian army in Kursk, a Russian territory that has been under Ukrainian control since the summer. It turns out, these soldiers are Vietnamese and Laotian, but the video wasn’t filmed in Kursk or, indeed, along any of the frontlines with Ukraine. It is likely that these soldiers are cadets training in Russia.

The video posted on January 16 on X and YouTube shows two Asian soldiers, bundled in hats and coats, complaining about the cold in an incredibly snowy landscape. Behind them, you can see a long line of trucks and Russian armored BMP-2 tanks barrelling through the snow. The social media users who shared the video claim that it was filmed in Kursk, an area in Russia that has been occupied by the Ukrainian army since the summer of 2024. They say this adds further proof that foreign fighters are fighting alongside Russian soldiers. However, social media users had a number of different theories about the origin of these soldiers.

For other social media users— like Patricia Marins, a Brazilian commentator on all things military on X— the soldiers are actually Laotian and Vietnamese.

It turns out that the soldiers in the video are from Laos and Vietnam. In the video, they are speaking Vietnamese.

“Winter, you are so cold, my god!” one of them says, in Vietnamese.


Read more on The Observers - France 24