North Korea effect?

Putin: 2000 Ukraine soldiers encircled in Kursk

Russian soldiers patrol the Kursk region.

(Bild: ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin does not deny that North Korean troops are in Russia. Meanwhile, according to the President, large parts of the Ukrainian armed forces have been encircled in the Kursk border region in western Russia. According to the Ukrainian military intelligence service, the first North Korean troops trained in Russia are also located there.

"Russia has never doubted that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is serious about cooperation with Russia, we are working together with our North Korean friends," Putin said on Thursday in Kazan, Russia, in response to a question from journalists. "What we do is our business," Putin said at a press conference after the BRICS summit.

"Around 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers were blocked in the Kursk region," Putin also described at the final press conference of the BRICS summit in the megacity of Kazan on the Volga. Although Kiev is trying to restore access to these troops, the Russian military is liquidating this group.

We have never doubted that the North Korean leadership takes our agreements seriously. What and how we will do within the framework of this article is our business.

Wladimir Putin

Bild: AP/Alexander Kazakov

Russian troops are advancing on all fronts in eastern Ukraine, Putin continued. The Ukrainian soldiers who had entered Russian territory during a counterattack would also be pushed out of the country. He had previously emphasized the military successes of the Russian army in the war against Ukraine, which began in 2022, to the heads of state present at the BRICS summit.

Strategic partnership agreement with North Korea
Putin responded evasively to questions about reports of thousands of North Korean soldiers on Moscow's side, but did not see this as a problem. Moscow had ratified a treaty on a strategic partnership with North Korea, Putin said in Kazan. This included a passage on mutual military assistance. "We have never doubted that the North Korean leadership takes our agreements seriously. What and how we will do within the framework of this article is our business," said Putin.

Women in Kursk carrying humanitarian aid.

(Bild: APA/AFP/Andrey BORODULIN)

He went on to say that negotiations were still needed on the form the article would take. It remained to be seen how this would develop. Putin responded to a question from a US journalist who referred to the satellite images of North Korean troop deployments. "The images are a serious matter. If there are images, then that means they reflect something," Putin said. However, he did not become any clearer.

"Serious escalation" threatens
Meanwhile, the EU states warned Pyongyang against direct involvement in Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. The involvement of North Korean troops would be a unilateral act of hostility with serious consequences for peace and security in Europe and worldwide, according to a statement published by the EU's foreign affairs representative on behalf of the 27 countries. It would therefore constitute a serious violation of international law, including the most fundamental principles of the United Nations Charter.

For the designated new head of the Munich Security Conference (MSC), Jens Stoltenberg, the deployment of North Korean forces in the Ukraine war would be "a serious escalation". "North Korea has already provided enormous quantities of ammunition for Russia. So we can see how closely Russia and North Korea are linked," said the former NATO Secretary-General in an interview with the Münchner Merkur newspaper.