Tand while the West is still hesitant to authorize its Ukrainian ally to use its long-range weapons against military targets on Russian soil and has never thought of sending its troops to help kyiv on the front, Russia has no these modesties. To continue its war of aggression, it will regiment soldiers of North Korea’s special forces. Revealed by South Korean intelligence services, the news received no denial from the Kremlin. It confirms an internationalization of the conflict that Moscow denounces when it suits it but fuels it by physically involving a nuclear-armed North Korean ally which has already widely opened up its arsenals of bombs of all kinds.
For Russia, the signal of weakness thus sent does not matter: the main thing is to strengthen around it the axis of autocracies already including the Iranian mullahs suppliers of drones and Xi’s China, storehouse of military components. And a sign of the political support it benefits from, the Brics – the cartel of major emerging Chinese, Brazilian, South African and Indian countries, recently reinforced by Egypt and Ethiopia – will hold a conclave this week in Moscow. For Putin, this summit, which the Secretary General of the United Nations himself has promised to participate in, is the perfect opportunity to show that his counter-narrative of a war in Ukraine which would have been imposed on him by “Western imperialism » finds a wide diplomatic echo outside its borders, which is perhaps an unpleasant reality, but a reality.
Kim’s military aid sends a sign of weakness but the main thing for Moscow is to strengthen the axis of autocracies
With the wind in its sails in Donbass, Russia is experiencing, despite terrible military losses, a favorable moment which could allow it to calmly approach the post-American election and peace negotiations. The Kremlin could only rejoice at the rather reserved reception of Ukraine’s allies to the “victory plan” presented by Volodymyr Zelensky, in particular the clause requesting the rapid admission of kyiv into NATO.
In this almost idyllic landscape for Russia, it is however important to monitor the Moldovan presidential election, the first round of which took place this Sunday, and the legislative elections on October 26 in Georgia. Because the desire of these two small neighbors of Russia to escape satelliteization is strong. And if the ballot boxes confirm their pro-European choices, it will be a reminder that for these people, and for others who cannot express themselves, Putin’s Russia remains an absolute counter-model.
