Brigadier General Pat Ryder, the press secretary of the Pentagon, said today (Tuesday) that the Americans have information according to which “Russia specifically requested ammunition from North Korea”. He said that the US had seen indications that Russia had approached North Korea, but said that he had no More details, including whether the money changed hands or any shipments are in progress: “It does demonstrate and testify to the situation that Russia has found itself in, in terms of its logistics and security capabilities as it relates to Ukraine,” Ryder said, in the administration’s first public comments on the newly released intelligence assessment. “We assess that things are not going well on this front for Russia.”
When Ryder was asked why the information was declassified, he replied that it was relevant to illustrate the state of Russia’s ongoing military campaign in Ukraine. And he said, it shows “they are trying to reach out to international players like Iran and North Korea who don’t have the best record when it comes to international stability.”
Another US official, who spoke anonymously about the latest intelligence assessment (first reported in the New York Times), said yesterday that the fact that Russia is turning to the isolated country of North Korea proves that “the Russian military continues to suffer from a severe lack of supplies in Ukraine, due in part to export controls and sanctions.” .
Neither Brigadier General Ryder nor the US official could say how many weapons Russia intended to purchase from North Korea. US intelligence officials believe the Russians could acquire additional North Korean military equipment in the future.
The Biden administration said last week that Russia faced technical problems with Iranian-made drones purchased from Tehran in August for use in its war with Ukraine. Russia collected Mohajer-6 and Shahed series unmanned aerial vehicles last month as part of what the Biden administration says is part of a program Russian to purchase hundreds of Iranian drones for use in Ukraine.
North Korea has sought to tighten relations with Russia as much of Europe and the West has backed away, blaming the United States for the crisis in Ukraine and denouncing the West’s “hegemonic policy” as justifying Russia’s military action in Ukraine to defend itself. The North Koreans hinted at an interest in sending construction workers to help rebuild the Russian occupation areas in the east of the country.
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North Korea’s ambassador to Moscow recently met with envoys from two Russian-backed separatist territories in Ukraine’s Donbass region and expressed optimism about cooperation in the “labor migration field,” citing his country’s easing of pandemic border controls. In July, North Korea became the only nation besides Russia and Syria to recognize the independence of the territories, Donetsk and Luhansk, while further aligning with Russia regarding the conflict in Ukraine.
North Korea’s arms exports to Russia would be a violation of UN resolutions that prohibit the country from exporting or importing weapons from other countries. A possible dispatch of workers to Russian-held territories in Ukraine would also violate the UN resolution that required all member states to return all North Korean workers from their land until 2019.
There have been suspicions that China and Russia have not fully enforced UN sanctions on North Korea, complicating a US-led attempt to strip North Korea of its nuclear weapons. North Korea’s provocative move comes as the Biden administration has become increasingly concerned about increased activity by North Korea in its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
North Korea has test-fired more than 30 ballistic missiles this year, including the first intercontinental ballistic missile flights since 2017, as leader Kim Jong Un pushes to advance his nuclear arsenal despite pressure and US-led sanctions.
The U.S. has frequently downloaded and released public intelligence findings during the difficult war in Ukraine to highlight plans for Russian disinformation operations or to draw attention to Moscow’s difficulties in prosecuting the war. Ukraine’s smaller military has put up stiff resistance against militarily superior Russian forces.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kim recently exchanged letters in which both called for “comprehensive” and “strategic and tactical” cooperation between the countries. Moscow, for its part, has issued statements condemning the revival of large-scale military exercises between the US and South Korea this year.