At the White House, the official visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Pyongyang and the signing of a strategic partnership agreement with his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong Un were termed an expansion of the partnership, states Michael Carpenter, Senior Director for European Affairs at the US National Security Council.
Regarding the meeting between Putin and Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang and all the pomp and splendor reflecting the totalitarian nature of the regime in North Korea, Carpenter said, "It is obvious that this is about expanding partnership."
This also indicates where Russia stands on the world stage, he noted. Russia's closest partners have become North Korea, Iran, Syria, and to some extent China, which, while not providing Russia with weapons, sends a lot of dual-use products for the production of advanced weapons systems.
According to Carpenter, this includes nitrocellulose for the production of powders, optics, and equipment for the Russian military-industrial complex. This increases the threat to the security of Ukraine and Europe as a whole, he noted.
"This is, in a broad sense, the coalition that Russia is assembling," said the White House representative. However, he proposed comparing it with the coalition of 50 countries in the Contact Group on Defense Issues of Ukraine and with approximately 100 countries that supported the principles of the UN Charter in Switzerland (at the Peace Summit).
Putin in North Korea
On Tuesday, June 18, Putin arrived for a visit to the capital of North Korea, Pyongyang. The Western press writes that the trip is most likely related to the search for weapons for the war against Ukraine.
In Pyongyang, Putin and Kim Jong Un signed a strategic partnership agreement, which, according to the Russian President, includes mutual assistance in case of aggression against one of the parties to this agreement. However, the text of the document has not yet been published.
More details about the visit can be found in the article by RBC-Ukraine.