عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

NKorea's Kim Hails Russia Ties as Putin Reportedly Plans a Visit

FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un examine a launch pad of Soyuz rockets during their meeting at the Vostochny cosmodrome outside the city of Tsiolkovsky, about 200 kilometres from the city of Blagoveshchensk in the far eastern Amur region, Russia, on Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un examine a launch pad of Soyuz rockets during their meeting at the Vostochny cosmodrome outside the city of Tsiolkovsky, about 200 kilometres from the city of Blagoveshchensk in the far eastern Amur region, Russia, on Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)
TT
TT

NKorea's Kim Hails Russia Ties as Putin Reportedly Plans a Visit

FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un examine a launch pad of Soyuz rockets during their meeting at the Vostochny cosmodrome outside the city of Tsiolkovsky, about 200 kilometres from the city of Blagoveshchensk in the far eastern Amur region, Russia, on Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un examine a launch pad of Soyuz rockets during their meeting at the Vostochny cosmodrome outside the city of Tsiolkovsky, about 200 kilometres from the city of Blagoveshchensk in the far eastern Amur region, Russia, on Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hailed the country's expanding relationship with Russia on Wednesday, as reports suggest that Russian President Vladimir Putin will soon visit the country for his third meeting with Kim.
Military, economic and other cooperation between North Korea and Russia have sharply increased since Kim visited Russia last September for a meeting with Putin. The US, South Korea and their partners believe North Korea has supplied artillery, missiles and other conventional weapons to Russia to support its war in Ukraine in return for advanced military technologies and economic aid.
Kim has been pushing to boost partnerships with Russia and China in a bid to strength his regional footing and launch a united front against the United States, The Associated Press reported.
During their September meeting at Russia’s main space launch site, Kim invited the Russian president to visit North Korea at “a convenient time,” and Putin accepted.
On Wednesday, Kim sent Putin a congratulatory message commemorating Russia's National Day, according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency.
“Thanks to the significant meeting between us at the Vostochney Spaceport in September last year, (North Korea)-Russia friendly and cooperative relations developed into an unbreakable relationship of comrades-in-arms,” Kim said in the message.
Kim's comments came as media reports said Putin is expected to visit North Korea as early as next week. If realized, it would their third summit meeting. Their first summit happened in Vladivostok in April 2019.
Japanese public broadcaster NHK, citing unidentified diplomatic sources including high-ranking Russian officials, reported Wednesday that Putin is preparing to visit North Korea and Vietnam next week.
NHK said Putin is expected to seek stronger military ties with North Korea as Russia faces a shortage of weapons in its war with Ukraine, while North Korea is believed to want help with space technology in the wake of its recent failure to put a second spy satellite in orbit in late May.
Earlier this week, Russia’s Vedomosti newspaper carried a similar report.
Neither Russia nor North Korea have confirmed reports of a planned trip. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a briefing in late May that “the visit is in the pipeline, and we will make an announcement in due time,” according to Russian news agency Tass.

Most Viewed

 
 
World

Putin and Iranian President Sign Strategic Cooperation Treaty

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attend a documents signing ceremony in Moscow, Russia January 17, 2025. (Reuters)
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attend a documents signing ceremony in Moscow, Russia January 17, 2025. (Reuters)
TT
TT

Putin and Iranian President Sign Strategic Cooperation Treaty

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attend a documents signing ceremony in Moscow, Russia January 17, 2025. (Reuters)
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attend a documents signing ceremony in Moscow, Russia January 17, 2025. (Reuters)

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian on Friday signed a 20-year strategic partnership treaty involving closer defense cooperation that is likely to worry the West.

Pezeshkian, on his first Kremlin visit since winning the presidency last July, hailed the signing as an important new chapter in the two countries' relations, while Putin said Moscow and Tehran had many of the same views on international affairs.

"This (treaty) creates better conditions for bilateral cooperation in all areas," said Putin, emphasizing the upside for economic ties and trade, which he said was mostly carried out in the two countries' own currencies.

"We need less bureaucracy and more concrete action. Whatever difficulties are created by others we will be able to overcome them and move forward," Putin added, referring to Western sanctions on both countries.

Putin said Russia regularly informed Iran about what was going on in the Ukraine conflict and that they closely consulted on events in the Middle East and South Caucasus region.

Russia and Iran were the main military allies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who fled to Moscow after being toppled last month. The West also accuses Iran of providing missiles and drones for Russian attacks on Ukraine. Moscow and Tehran say their increasingly close ties are not directed against other countries.

Putin said work on a potential gas pipeline to carry Russian gas to Iran was progressing despite difficulties, and that, despite delays in building new nuclear reactors for Iran, Moscow was open to potentially taking on more nuclear projects.

Pezeshkian, whose words were translated by Russian state TV, said the treaty would create good opportunities and showed Moscow and Iran did not need to heed the opinion of what he called "countries over the ocean".

"The agreements we reached today are another stimulus when it comes to the creation of a multi-polar world," he said.

CLOSE COOPERATION

Moscow has cultivated closer ties with Iran and other countries hostile towards the US, such as North Korea, since the start of the Ukraine war, and already has strategic pacts with Pyongyang and close ally Belarus, as well as a partnership agreement with China.

Immediate details of the 20-year Russia-Iran agreement were not available but it was not expected to include a mutual defense clause of the kind sealed with Minsk and Pyongyang. It is still likely to concern the West, however, which sees both countries as malign influences on the world stage.

Neither leader mentioned defense cooperation during their Kremlin press conference, but officials from both countries had said earlier that part of the pact focused on defense.

Russia has made extensive use of Iranian drones during the war in Ukraine and the United States accused Tehran in September of delivering close-range ballistic missiles to Russia for use against Ukraine.

Tehran denies supplying drones or missiles. The Kremlin has declined to confirm it has received Iranian missiles, but has acknowledged that its cooperation with Iran includes "the most sensitive areas".

Russia has supplied Iran with S-300 air defense missile systems in the past and there have been reports in Iranian media of potential interest in buying more advanced systems such as the S-400 and of acquiring advanced Russian fighter jets.

Pezeshkian's visit to Moscow comes at a time when Iran's influence across the Middle East is in retreat with the fall of Assad in Syria and the Israeli pounding of Iran-backed groups Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The fate of two major Russian military facilities in Syria has been uncertain since the fall of Assad.