The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, plans to land this Tuesday in North Korea, where he is expected to stage his harmony with the dictator Kim Jong-un, who has become, by necessity, one of the Kremlin’s most important partners. This is the first visit by the Russian leader to the communist neighbor since the very distant year 2000, and underlines the rapprochement between both countries as Putin’s regime has been losing steam, soldiers and weapons in the invasion of Ukraine. With Pyongyang becoming a supplier of missiles and ammunition destined for the Russian front, as the West suspects, and Moscow in a growing phase of exporting hydrocarbons to its ally, both are expected to negotiate a strategic partnership agreement, as announced on Monday by the Kremlin, although its content remains unknown. Putin assured this Tuesday that they have also proposed creating their own system of exchanges with which to avoid the increasingly suffocating knot of sanctions.
“We will develop alternative mechanisms for trade and mutual agreements not controlled by the West, we will jointly oppose illegitimate unilateral restrictions,” the Russian leader proposed in an article with which the North Koreans woke up this Tuesday, published in Rodong Sinmun,the official newspaper of the Workers’ Party of Korea, before it landed in the country.
The two leaders are expected to discuss, in addition to security issues, various issues in economic sectors, including energy, transportation and agriculture, Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov said on Monday, and to sign several documents, of which neither The content has been detailed. Cooperation between the two countries has skyrocketed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to Russian statistics, cited by Ushakov, bilateral trade has multiplied by 10 in 2023, to 32 million euros.
“We very much appreciate that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea [nombre oficial de Corea del Norte] “Strongly support Russia’s special military operations carried out in Ukraine, express solidarity with us in major international affairs and maintain the common line and position in the UN,” Putin thanked in the article The Russian leader praises the support of a country that he considers a “trustworthy comrade” and his willingness to confront what he calls “the ambition of the Western group” to prevent the formation of a “multipolar world.” He also proposes creating an egalitarian and indivisible security architecture in Eurasia.
For the West, the visit is further proof of the Russian president’s need to strengthen alliances in the face of a dwindling list of friends in the international forum, and secure a vital line of supplies for the war. The spokesman for the US State Department, Matthew Miller, stated in an appearance on Monday that a Putin “desperate in recent months” is going to Pyongyang in search of weapons. According to Washington, North Korea has transferred “dozens of ballistic missiles and more than 11,000 ammunition containers” to Russia in recent months. “We know that they are using ammunition [Corea del Norte] to threaten Ukraine and kill Ukrainians,” he said.
These shipments would be a violation of the UN arms embargo on North Korea, which prevents the Asian regime from exporting and importing weapons due to its nuclear program. In turn, Moscow has been supplying hydrocarbons to North Korea above the levels allowed by the United Nations, Washington has denounced.
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Putin’s trip coincided with a scuffle this Tuesday on the border between North Korea and its southern neighbor. South Korean soldiers have fired warning shots to repel North Korean soldiers who have temporarily crossed the land line for the second time this month, according to the South Korean military, AP has reported.
Putin plans to spend Tuesday and Wednesday in North Korea. The visit includes face-to-face meetings between the leaders, a concert, a state reception, as well as the signing of documents, as reported by Reuters citing the Russian agency Interfax. The Russian travels accompanied by the Minister of Defense, Andrei Belúsov, his faithful foreign squire, Sergei Lavrov, and the holders of the portfolios of Natural Resources, Health and Transport, those responsible for the Russian space agency and the railways, as well as one of Putin’s key men on energy, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak.
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