Vladimir Putin announced on Wednesday that Russia and North Korea will sign a new agreement, which will strengthen ties between the two countries, expand their economic and military cooperation and present a united front against Washington.
Putin praises the countries’ “close friendship” and also thanks Kim Jong-Un for supporting the Kremlin’s “policy” in Ukraine, reports the AP news agency. He also says that the leader of North Korea is welcome in Moscow.
– It is quite clear that these two countries, which are very isolated, that their relationship has not been this good since the time of the Soviet Union, says SVT’s foreign reporter and former Asia correspondent Susan Ritzén in Morgonstudion.
“No coincidence at all”
This is the first time in 24 years that Putin has visited the closed dictatorship. The last time was 2000. So why is it happening now?
– It is no coincidence at all. Putin cannot travel to very many countries, so symbolically this is also important for him to be received. Although North Korea may not have such a high status in the country, it is undeniably the case that the whole world is looking at these pictures, says Ritzen.
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The Russian president arrived in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang late Tuesday for a two-day visit, and was greeted by a red carpet and dictator Kim Jong-un. Both countries are under severe economic sanctions. Photo: AP
Contact between the countries has strengthened after Russia launched its bloody invasion war in Ukraine in 2022.
US and South Korean officials, as well as Ukraine, have claimed that North Korea supplies Russia with artillery, missiles and other military equipment. Debris from robots that crashed in Kharkiv in January also suggests this is the case. Pyongyang and Moscow have denied the allegations.
In a statement published in the Russian state news agencies Tass and Ria Novosti, Putin said the “new basic document will form the basis of our ties in the long term”.