Vladimir Putin is heading to North Korea on Tuesday for a rare state visit as millions of shells for his war in Ukraine head in the other direction.
The Russian leader will arrive in Pyongyang at the head of a large delegation that includes Andrey Belousov, his new defence chief, and Sergey Lavrov, the veteran foreign minister, Russian officials have said.
Russian state media reported that a “comprehensive strategic partnership treaty” may be signed between Putin and Kim Jong-un, the North Korean dictator, during the trip.
The two autocrats have been deepening relations and trade in weapons since Moscow invaded Ukraine. They are set to discuss “security, economy, energy, and transport” issues according to the official communiqué.
Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, said Putin and Kim’s growing relationship was a “lonely bromance”.
Satellite imagery from recent weeks shows what looks like preparations being made in the North Korean capital for a large military parade, while the runway at the capital’s airport has also been cleared of aircraft, according to the website NKNews.
The visit is rattling nerves in South Korea and in the West, with democratic states warning that North Korea has turned into a vital arms supplier to Moscow, as Russia seeks to sustain its draining war of attrition against Ukraine.
‘Undermines peace and stability’
Ahead of official confirmation of the meeting last week, South Korea said that it had made an emergency call to Washington expressing its concern at the “deepening military cooperation that violates UN Security Council resolutions and undermines peace and stability”.
Western intelligence agencies have made claims, denied by both Pyongyang and Moscow, that North Korea is shipping huge quantities of ammunition across the Sea of Japan to a port in the remote east of Russia.
US intelligence have published satellite imagery they says shows containers being shipped from North Korea to the Russian port of Dunay before being taken on a 6,000 mile train trip to near the Ukrainian border.
North Korea is believed to be sitting on one of the largest ammunition stores in the world, most of which is compatible with Russian artillery due to the countries’ historic Cold War military cooperation.
UN Security Council resolutions which Russia has signed up to prohibit arms deals with North Korea.
“Ghost ships” shuttling on a 110-mile journey between the two countries’ coasts have their transmitters turned off, heightening fears that they are engaged in sanctions-busting activity.
The defence ministry in Seoul estimates the value of munitions supplied so far by North Korea to be valued at over £4 billion.
South Korea’s defence minister said last week that North Korea has sent containers to Russia that could hold nearly 5 million artillery shells.
Putin made his last state visit to Pyongyang shortly after coming to power in 2000, when he signed a “treaty of friendship” with Kim’s father, Kim Jong-il.
After years of arm’s-length relations though, the two countries have been thrown together by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine which has largely isolated it across the globe.
‘Developing our bilateral relations’
“The potential for developing our bilateral relations is very deep,” Dmirty Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, said last week, according to Interfax. “We believe that our right to develop good relations with our neighbours should not cause concern to anyone and cannot and should not be disputed by anyone.”
In September, Kim visited the east of Russia on a five-day visit in his iconic armoured train.
During the trip he met Putin at a Russian spaceport where the two men are believed to have agreed to intensify military cooperation.
While few details of the meeting were made official, Moscow could be supplying Pyongyang with know-how for its satellite programme in return.
Putin also gave his reclusive Korean counterpart a luxury Aurus Senat limousine at the beginning of this year.
The gift would appear to be in contravention of a UN resolution sanctioning the export of luxury goods to North Korea as punishment for its nuclear testing programme.
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