The upper house of the Russian Parliament must ratify on Wednesday a mutual defense treaty with North Korea, whose soldiers are, according to kyiv and Washington, about to go to fight, alongside Russia, the Ukrainian forces.
Concluded during a rare visit by Vladimir Putin to Pyongyang in June, this treaty between two beasts of the United States provides for reciprocal “immediate military aid” in the event of an attack against one of the two countries.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday evening that 11,000 North Korean soldiers were already in the Russian region of Kursk where, since its surprise offensive in August, the Ukrainian army has occupied a few hundred square kilometers.
There is little doubt in the eyes of Westerners that North Korean soldiers will soon participate in combat. Several Ukrainian officials even suggested that they had already had to face Ukrainian fire, like the head of the center for combating disinformation, Andriï Kovalenko, who assured on Telegram that some “had already come under fire in the Kursk region “.
Pyongyang and Moscow have neither confirmed nor denied this deployment.
– “In the coming days” –
The US State Department said on October 31 that it expected their engagement “in the coming days” and Secretary of State Antony Blinken judged that Russia intended to “use these forces in operations in front line”.
This internationalization of the conflict triggered in February 2022 by the Russian assault in Ukraine would mark a new escalation.
Ukraine is therefore annoyed by the timidity of its Western supporters who still do not authorize it to strike Russia in a discretionary manner with missiles provided by Europe and the United States. Especially since the bad news is piling up for kyiv.
The Ukrainian troops, lacking men and weapons, are retreating on many sections of the front. In October, the Russian army advanced almost 500 square kilometers in Ukraine, its largest territorial gain in a month since March 2022 and the first weeks of the conflict.
“We see an increase in the number of North Koreans (near the front) but no increase in the reaction of our partners,” Volodymyr Zelensky lamented on Monday.
Two weeks after the unanimous ratification of the treaty by the deputies, the result of the vote of the Council of the Federation of Russia, the upper house, is little in doubt. The Russian president must then promulgate the agreement which will then enter into force.
– “Until Victory Day” –
Russia and North Korea have grown significantly closer since the invasion of Ukraine began.
Like Iran, another existential adversary of Washington, North Korea is accused by kyiv and the West of supplying shells and missiles to the Russian military.
It is suspected of asking in particular in exchange for technologies that will help it strengthen its nuclear arsenal, particularly in the field of missiles. On Tuesday, the North Koreans carried out a new test firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile, showing their determination to continue their program to develop their nuclear weapons.
On the occasion of a several-day visit to Russia, during which she was received on Monday by Vladimir Putin, the head of North Korean diplomacy Choe Son-hui promised that her country would remain alongside its partner until “on Victory Day” in Ukraine.
In this context, South Korea, a major arms exporter, has indicated that it is studying the possibility of directly sending weapons to Ukraine.
It was opposed until now because of a long-standing national policy that prevented it from supplying weapons to countries at war.
“The kyiv regime is trying to do everything it can to involve Seoul” in the conflict, commented Tuesday Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, who however refused to comment on the presence of North Korean troops. .
