Moscow still evades the presence of 11,000 North Korean soldiers in combat against the Ukrainian army

Asked about these assertions on Friday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov referred the question to the Defense Ministry, which in principle never responds to requests from Western journalists.

Joint “exercises”

“This is a question directly linked to the conduct of the special military operation (in Ukraine), which must therefore be posed to the Ministry of Defense,” said Mr. Peskov, not denying the deployment of these North Korean military which would constitute an international escalation of the conflict.

On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would not rule out joint military exercises with North Korea. “We will see, we will be able to organize exercises. Why not ? “, he declared during a forum.

Russia and North Korea recently concluded a mutual defense treaty which notably provides for reciprocal “immediate military assistance” in the event of an attack against one of the two countries by another state.

The two countries have become considerably closer since the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine in 2022. North Korea is notably accused of supplying large quantities of shells and missiles to Russia.