‘Highly valued,’ according to Russia, is North Korea’s opposition to Ukraine

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Pyongyang on Wednesday that Russia “highly values” North Korea’s assistance in its Ukrainian campaign as Western fears about the traditional allies’ growing military relations grow.

Lavrov made his remarks as he started a two-day trip to Pyongyang that is anticipated to set the basis for a visit by President Vladimir Putin.

Lavrov was reported by Russia’s RIA news agency as saying, “We highly value your principled, unambiguous support for Russia’s actions in connection with the special military operation in Ukraine.”

The North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited Russia last month to meet with Putin, marking his first international journey since the crisis started. This is followed by the tour of the foreign ministry.

In Beijing, where Putin welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping as a “old friend” on Wednesday during a rare trip outside of Russia, Lavrov landed in Pyongyang.

Putin, who was a special guest at a conference honoring Xi’s massive Belt and Road investment initiative, told reporters that he and Xi had spoken “eye to eye” alone and that escalating international tensions “strengthen” their nations’ ties.

Kim said that bilateral relations with Moscow were his nation’s “number one priority” as he arrived in Russia on a train that had been particularly constructed to be bulletproof.

The high-profile meeting increased Western concerns that Pyongyang would provide Moscow weaponry for its protracted conflict in Ukraine.

In recent weeks, North Korea has sent more than 1,000 containers of military hardware and ammunition to Russia, according to a statement from the United States on Friday.

According to John Kirby, the national security spokesperson for the White House, Pyongyang was asking for a variety of military support in exchange, including cutting-edge technology.

Transfers of firearms

A cargo of containers were transported by sea from North Korea to Russia between September 1 and October 1, according to a White House image.

A storage for munitions located around 290 kilometers (180 miles) from the Ukrainian border received them after being sent there by train.

The Kremlin, meanwhile, said on Tuesday that there was no proof of any shipments of weaponry to the US.

When questioned about the alleged weapons shipments, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, “They report this all the time, without providing any proof.”

Separate satellite pictures showing what Washington-based experts Beyond Parallel described as a “unprecedented” increase in rail movement near Russia’s border with North Korea were published last week.

According to the group’s study, the rush of activity “likely indicates North Korea’s supply of arms and munitions to Russia.”

Despite increasing shell output this year to a projected 2.5 million, observers believe it may not be enough to meet Russia’s demands on the battlefield.

North Korea is a major manufacturer of conventional weapons and is believed to possess significant quantities of unidentified Soviet-era combat materials.

Priority 1

International sanctions have been imposed on both Russia and North Korea as a result of their invasions of Ukraine and nuclear weapon tests, respectively.

The two Koreas’ ties are at an all-time low, with the North conducting a record-breaking number of weapons tests this year and only recently enshrining its position as a nuclear state in its constitution. As a result, their alliance is becoming more tightly knit.

At the same time as it entered a new trilateral agreement with Japan, South Korea simultaneously took steps to improve its security ties with its longtime ally, the United States.

A US B-52 bomber with the ability to transport nuclear bombs touched down on Tuesday at Cheongju Airport, roughly 100 kilometers south of Seoul, according to the Yonhap news agency.

It arrived less than a week after the USS Ronald Reagan, which infuriated Pyongyang, anchored in the southern port city of Busan.

It was the first time a B-52 has landed in the nation since at least 2000, when such records-keeping started. B-52s had previously participated in joint drills over the peninsula.