Russian President Vladimir Putin To Travel To North Korea

A trip by Russian President Vladimir Putin to North Korea, “is being prepared,” according to Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov. Peskov told reporters: “As you know, President Putin actually has a valid invitation to visit North Korea on an official visit. The visit is being prepared. We will inform the dates of such a trip in a timely manner.”

• The trip, likely to take place in the coming weeks, is expected to accelerate military and technology transfers between the two countries which formalised when Putin met North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un in eastern Russia in September 2023, the latter’s first meeting with a foreign leader since 2020.
• US intelligence officials believethat Moscow is sending nuclear technology to Pyeongyang in return for conventional munitions to be used in Ukraine. Russian technology may have been used in newly unveiled North Korean submarines and to advance its solid-fuel hypersonic missile programme.
• Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told US lawmakers this month that North Korean munitions and missiles helped Russians, “get back up on their feet.”
• NBC News reports: "U.S. officials are also bracing for North Korea to potentially take its most provocative military actions in a decade close to the U.S. presidential election, possibly at Putin’s urging, [six senior U.S. officials] said.”