Video of Russian cops singing in Chinese sparks avalanche of jokes

Footage showing Russian police officers dancing in their seats and singing in Mandarin Chinese during a language lesson has sparked amusement online.

The video, which was shared by Ukrainian politician Anton Gerashchenko, was uploaded on Sunday and has already been viewed more than 136,000 times. More than 1,000 viewers “liked” the 24-second clip on X, formerly Twitter, and hundreds re-posted it to share with their own followers.

Many online commentators found the video amusing, as the Russian officers—in full uniform—did their best to mimic Chinese pronunciation, and performed a series of movements with their hands to accompany the cheerful-sounding song.

However, others warned that increasing ties between Russia and China is far from funny, and could prove a serious threat to the U.S. amid fears the two nations could team to form a nuclear military alliance to attack Americans.

Russian President Vladimir Putin received a warm welcome during a visit to China’s capital Beijing last month and delivered a speech praising Chinese President Xi Jinping, despite an industrial dispute between the two countries over energy supplies.

Gerashchenko, who is adviser to Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs and who describes himself on X as an “Official enemy of Russian propaganda,” often shares videos he claims show Russia’s brutality or incompetence. He captioned the most recent video: “Russian police officers started learning Chinese. This could be a joke – with Russia you never know.”

The original source of the video, and where it was filmed, remains unclear. Newsweek has reached out to Russia’s Foreign Ministry by email for comment.

The footage, which is stamped with a date suggesting it was filmed on Thursday, begins by showing a row of desks, with seven police officers trying to repeat the teacher as he takes them through a series of sounds to show them the correct tones to use in words. The clip then segues into a musical number as the officers perform hand movements while singing a Chinese song.

Gerashchenko shared the clip with his 528,000 followers on Sunday:

Many of those viewing the footage found it amusing. Some joked that the officers’ pronunciation was so poor that they could be saying anything without realizing it. There were several crude suggestions as what they might have been saying.

Several others suggested Russia would become subservient to China in the future and posted a string of X-rated GIFS and memes suggesting the same.

Others shared cartoons and caricatures making the same point, including an image shared by X user Loke Laufella, who posted a drawing of a lowly Putin serving tea to Xi who had his feet up on the Kremlin table.

Others suggested Putin has been weakened by the nearly 21-month war with Ukraine and needed to beg for help from China.

One political cartoon, posted on X by a user under the name Agentur Newnet, showed an injured Putin with a Ukrainian flag-decorated axe in his head, extending a broken arm to shake Xi’s hand as the pair stood in a pool of blood.

Others joked that China would effectively rule over Russia in the future, making such language skills necessary. One X user wrote: “Well, they [the Russians] will need to understand the orders they will be given.” While another added: “They should start learning everything about Xi Jinping their future leader after annexation by China.”

One X user, whose user name was listed as Zoey, tweeted the image of an hourglass showing the sands of Russia draining away into the sands of China with the words “tick tock.” Zoey captioned the post: “Soon.”

But others warned the light-hearted language lesson may mask a serious point, and could even indicate a darker future.

One X user wrote: “Yes, could be joke but it makes sense. Russia needs China.” Another warned that, in the future, “Ukraine joins the EU, and Russia joins China.”

The claims come after a recent American report warned that the U.S. is unprepared for the risk of a simultaneous military conflict with “both Russia and China” adding that the threat, “while not inevitable, has grown, and with it the risk of nuclear use, possibly against the U.S. homeland.”