Ukraine-Russia war: Putin gets Kim Jong-un’s ‘full support’ in North Korea as Kyiv claims Russian troops ‘beheaded’ soldie

The strategic partnership pact signed today by Russia and North Korea includes a mutual defence clause under which each country agrees to help the other repel external aggression, Russian president Vladimir Putin said.

“The comprehensive partnership agreement signed today provides, among other things, for mutual assistance in the event of aggression against one of the parties to this agreement,” Mr Putin was quoted as saying by state news agency Tass.

Russia has suffered missile attacks within its own territory following its full-scale invasion of neighbouring Ukraine in February 2022.

Vladimir Putin said a parnership agreement he signed with Kim Jong Un on Wednesday was defensive in nature, Russian state news agency TASS said.

Following talks which Mr Putin said had covered security and international issues, the Russian president was quoted as telling reporters that North Korea had a right to defend itself.

Vietnam has its reasons to risk the ire of diplomatic partners such as the US and EU with Vladimir Putin, an analyst has said.

“Hanoi wants Putin to come for several reasons,” Ian Storey, a senior fellow at the Singapore-based ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute told Reuters. “First, to demonstrate that Vietnam pursues a balanced foreign policy that does not favour any of the major powers.”

Vietnam pursues what it calls “bamboo diplomacy”, maintaining good relations with world powers, despite those powers’ animosity toward one another.

Noting that US president Joe Biden visited Vietnam followed by Chinese president Xi Jinping a few months later, Mr Storey said: “Putin’s visit will complete leadership visits by the ‘Big Three’.”

A court in Russia’s far eastern city of Vladivostok has sentenced an American soldier arrested earlier this year to three years and nine months in prison on charges of stealing and threats of murder, Russian news reports said.

Staff Sgt Gordon Black, 34, flew to Vladivostok to see his girlfriend and was arrested after she accused him of stealing from her, according to US officials and Russian authorities.

Russian state news agencies Tass and RIA Novosti reported from the courtroom that the judge also ordered Black to pay 10,000 rubles (£95) in damages. Prosecutors had asked for Black to be sentenced to four years and eight months in prison.

Black’s sentencing further complicates US relations with Russia, which have grown increasingly tense as the fighting in Ukraine continues.

Russian interference in the UK general election will likely “ramp up dramatically” prior to voting day, the chair of the US senate intelligence committee has warned.

Senator Mark Warner, who is regularly briefed on US intelligence, said Washington was “closely monitoring” the situation in Britain, adding: “Clearly, Russia does not like the fact that the U.K. has been as stalwart as they have been in terms of defence on Ukraine.”

While US intelligences services are yet to see much activity indicating Russian interference in Britain’s upcoming vote on 4 July, Mr Warner said: “The chances are, as we saw in the past, this activity ramps up dramatically the closer it gets to the election.”

He added: “It clearly meets Putin’s plans if he can lessen the British or the Americans’ resolve for supporting Ukraine, he can save some money on his tanks, guns, ships, and planes if he can diminish support.”

Speaking at a Christian Science Monitor event, Mr Warner reportedly claimed that Russia was “sowing discontent or trying to pit groups against each other [to] further social division” in the UK, and singled out Nigel Farage as he described Mr Putin’s potential efforts to exploit political differences on Ukraine’s defence.

Vietnam is also preparing to roll out the red carpet for Vladimir Putin late on Wednesday night in Hanoi, in a move condemned by the United States.

Vietnam’s carefully built alliances with both Washington and the European Union makes the Hanoi stop of Putin’s tour especially important for the Russian leader, Alexander Vuving of the Hawaii-based Inouye Asia-Pacific Centre for Security Studies, told Reuters.

“Russia wants to send the message that it has friends everywhere in the world and that the West’s effort to isolate Russia is futile,” Mr Vuving said, adding that Hanoi has its own interests beyond the two countries’ shared Communist roots.

“Russia plays a unique and critical role in Vietnam’s foreign policy,” he said, noting that Moscow has been a major arms supplier to Hanoi.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un promised full support for Russia’s war in Ukraine before beginning a one-on-one meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Pyongyang today, in a bid to expand their economic and military cooperation and show a united front against Washington.

Kim said relations between Moscow and Pyongyang are now even closer than during Soviet times and called Putin’s visit an opportunity to solidify their “fiery friendship.”

Kim vowed his country’s “full support and solidarity to the Russian government, army and people in carrying out the special military operation in Ukraine to protect sovereignty, security interests and territorial integrity.” It wasn’t immediately clear what that support might look like.

Kim has used similar language in the past, consistently saying North Korea supports what he describes as a just action to protect Russia’s interests and blaming the crisis on the US-led West’s “hegemonic policy.”

Speaking before the summit, Putin thanked Kim for support in Ukraine and said the two countries would sign an agreement to boost their partnership as both “fight against the imperialist hegemonistic policies of the US and its satellites against the Russian Federation,” according to remarks carried by Russian state Tass and RIA Novosti news agencies.

Putin’s visit comes amid growing concerns about an arms arrangement in which North Korea provides Russia with badly needed munitions to fuel Moscow’s war in Ukraine, in exchange for economic assistance and technology transfers that could enhance the threat posed by Kim’s nuclear weapons and missile program.

Vladimir Putin was embraced by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on his arrival at Pyongyang’s airport for a rare visit in the early hours this morning. The two leaders shared a ride to the state guest house in Pyongyang, North Korean state media said.

Putin, who arrived before dawn, is on his first trip to the North Korean capital in 24 years, a visit likely to reshape decades of Russia-North Korea relations at a time when both countries face international isolation.

Kim greeted Putin, shaking hands, embracing and talking beside the Russian leader’s plane. The pair then rode in Putin’s Russian-made Aurus limousine to the Kumsusan State Guest House.

Likely given the hour, the welcome was a relatively subdued affair, with Kim greeting the Russian leader on the red carpet without the grand ceremony the North put on for Chinese president Xi Jinping on his 2019 visit.

“Passing through charmingly lit streets of Pyongyang at night, the top leaders exchanged their pent-up inmost thoughts and opened their minds to more surely develop the DPRK-Russia relations,” KCNA reported, using the initials of North Korea’s official name.

State media photos showed streets of Pyongyang lined with portraits of Putin and the facade of the unfinished and vacant 101-story pyramid-shaped Ryugyong Hotel brightly lit with a giant message “Welcome Putin”.

Russian media photographs showed soldiers and a large crowd of civilians gathered at the square by the Taedong River running through the capital, including children holding balloons and giant portraits of the two leaders, with national flags adorning the Grand People’s Study Hall.