Vladimir Putin calls for co-operation with North Korea to resist western sanctions

Russian President Vladimir Putin has pledged to co-operate with North Korea to strengthen both regimes’ resistance to western sanctions.

Putin, who arrived in Pyongyang in the early hours of Wednesday for what is his first visit in 24 years, is expected to sign a new strategic partnership with Kim Jong Un during his stay.

In an article published in North Korean state newspaper Rodong Sinmun ahead of his arrival, Putin said Moscow would seek to work closely with Pyongyang to resist western pressure over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programme.

“We will develop alternative mechanisms of trade and mutual settlements that are not controlled by the west and jointly resist illegitimate unilateral restrictions,” Putin wrote, adding that the countries would “build an architecture of equal and indivisible security in Eurasia”.

He also thanked North Korea for its support for Moscow in the war in Ukraine and pledged to back Pyongyang in the face of “US pressure, blackmail and military threats”.

North Korea on Tuesday reaffirmed its support for Russia’s invasion, which Kim has called a “sacred war”.

Putin’s visit, which the Kremlin said would include a concert in his honour, comes as concerns grow in the west about deepening trade and military co-operation between Moscow and Pyongyang.

The Financial Times reported in March that Russia was supplying oil and petroleum products to North Korea in an apparent exchange for ballistic missiles and artillery shells to be used on the battlefield in Ukraine.

US state department spokesperson Matthew Miller on Monday said North Korea had supplied Russia with “dozens of ballistic missiles and over 11,000 containers of munitions”. Moscow and Pyongyang have denied arms transfers.

Russia also blocked the renewal of a UN panel that monitors compliance with Security Council sanctions against North Korea, resulting in that body’s dissolution.

Kim met Putin for the first time in four years in September in Russia’s Far East, where he toured the Vostochny Cosmodrome, Moscow’s most advanced space rocket launch site. Kim also extended an invitation to Russia’s leader to make a reciprocal trip.

Putin and Kim are expected to sign a strategic partnership agreement that Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said was “driven by the profound evolution of the geopolitical situation in the world and the region”.

Ushakov told reporters on Monday that the agreement would reflect “what has happened between our countries in recent years in international politics, economics and ties across the board, including security issues”, according to Interfax.

The Russian delegation includes new defence minister Andrei Belousov, as well as Denis Manturov, top deputy prime minister overseeing the defence sector, and Alexander Novak, Moscow’s most senior energy official.

The warming ties have also raised fears in the west of Russia supplying technical assistance or military technology transfers to North Korea. Two months after Kim’s visit to Russia, North Korea claimed its first successful launch of a military spy satellite. Yuri Borisov, the head of Russia’s space agency, is also accompanying Putin to Pyongyang.

The visit comes amid recent tensions on the Korean peninsula, after both countries scrapped a 2018 military accord aimed at reducing hostilities along their shared border.

South Korea’s military on Tuesday fired warning shots at dozens of North Korean soldiers who briefly crossed the demilitarised zone separating the countries, the second such incident this month. North Korea’s military also suffered multiple casualties after a landmine exploded in the DMZ.

The Koreas have also stepped up psychological warfare efforts, with Seoul restarting loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts across the border, in retaliation for Pyongyang sending trash-filled balloons.

Jenny Town, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center think-tank, said Putin’s visit had “political value to Kim, demonstrating a strong global standing” to his domestic audience.

“Kim Jong Un gets a lot out of the relationship with Russia. Coming out of the very difficult period of pandemic isolation and after failed negotiations with the US and South Korea, being able to meet with Putin is one big political victory for him,” she said.

“[It] helps present this image that [Pyongyang] is a much bigger player in global politics than what it should be.”