The president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, threatened Western nations with arming allied regimes, including that of North Korea, following the recent meeting with Kim Jong-un, if the West continues to serve weapons to Ukraine, CNN reported.
“Those who supply these weapons believe that they are not at war with us. I said, even in Pyongyang, that later we reserve the right to supply weapons to other regions of the world“said Putin in Hanoi, at the end of his visit to Vietnam. His words were in response to a question about whether the Western supply of long-range weapons should be considered an act of aggression.
“Where will they go next?” he said, suggesting that those countries could then sell the weapons to Western adversaries. Here the westerners they supply weapons to Ukraine and they say: we no longer control anything here and it doesn’t matter how they are used. Well, we can also say: we give something to someone and then we have no control over anything,” Putin stressed.
In turn, the Russian president warned that South Korea I would be making “a very big mistake” if I decided to supply weapons to Ukraineadding that Seoul “has nothing to worry about” regarding the new strategic partnership signed by Russia and North Korea.
“As far as I know, the Republic of Korea is not planning aggression against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, which means that there is no need to fear our cooperation in this area“, said.
On Friday, The South Korean Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian ambassador in Seoul to protest against the pactwarning that “any cooperation that could directly or indirectly help strengthen North Korea’s military power is a violation of the UN Security Council resolution.”
South Korean First Vice Minister Kim Hong-kyun emphasized to Ambassador Georgiy Zinoviev that “if Russia causes threats to our security by supporting North Korea, there will be an inevitable negative impact on relations between the Republic of Korea and Russia“the ministry said, using South Korea’s official name.
This week, Putin and the North Korean leader signed a “comprehensive strategic partnership” agreementa pact that replaces the previous Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Assistance, signed in 1961, the Treaty of Friendship and Good Neighborhood of 2000 and the Moscow and Pyongyang Declarations of 2000 and 2001, respectively, reported the official TASS agency, citing the advisor Russian President, Yuri Ushakov.
Putin said that Joint military exercises involving the US, South Korea and Japan are “hostile” towards North Korea, and characterized American policy as “confrontational.” Meanwhile, Kim called the new “alliance” a “defining moment in the development of bilateral relations.”
Furthermore, Putin announced this Friday that Russia will continue improving its nuclear arsenal for the purpose of maintaining a deterrent element. This commitment was expressed during a ceremony in the Kremlin, in which graduates of military, police and intelligence services academies participated.
“We have the intention of further develop the nuclear triad as strategic deterrence guarantee and to preserve the balance of power in the world,” said the president.
“We know that among the Western experts are considering ideas of a certain type of nuclear weapons that could be used and that would not be something especially serious… It may not be serious, but we are obliged to pay attention to that and we do it,” he explained.
