The leader of North Korea arrived on Tuesday by train in Russia to meet his counterpart Vladimir Putin. For his part, the Russian president gave a surprising conference in which he said that all the legal cases against Donald Trump are part of a political persecution.
This Tuesday, the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un, arrived in Russia on his private train to talk to the president, Vladimir Putin.
Kim, who did not travel by plane, left Pyongyang on Sunday, accompanied by senior military and arms industry officials.
Kim’s trip itself is a novelty, as he usually does not travel abroad: he has only made seven trips outside his country and crossed the inter-Korean border twice in his 12 years. of power. Four of those trips were to China.
Without a clear official agenda, the main concern of US officials is that Kim and Putin will argue over supplying Russia with weapons for the war in Ukraine. This is Kim’s second summit with Putin, whom he met in 2019 during his last trip abroad.
In this regard, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia’s national interests will dictate its policies: “In the implementation of our relations with our neighbors, including North Korea, the interests of our two countries are important us, and not warnings.” in Washington. ”
If North Korea provides artillery shells and other weapons to Russia, it will help Russian forces stretch their ammunition reserves, even if it does not change the course of the conflict.
Meanwhile, Kim also recently chose Russia for his first trip abroad since the coronavirus pandemic, raising the possibility that he may seek to balance relations with China.
It should be noted that, despite the fact that both of them are allies, Beijing and Moscow have allowed North Korea for its nuclear weapons and missile programs.
Trump defends Putin
When Kim arrived in Russia, Putin confirmed that he was preparing for a long war in Ukraine and that kyiv’s counter-offensive against Russian forces had so far failed.
Currently, Russia controls about 18% of Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, and a strip in the east and south of the country, which it seized after the February 24 invasion of Ukraine. 2022.
One of the peculiarities is that Putin pointed to the large number of judicial accusations currently facing Donald Trump, former president of the United States.
Although Trump and Putin are far from “friends,” both maintained good relations while the Republican leader was president, mainly because the latter was reluctant to continue expanding NATO, a military alliance with to join Ukraine.
Putin said Trump’s prosecution of the United States was politically motivated and showed the “rottenness” of the country’s political system.
“This shows the entire corruption of the American political system, which cannot hope to teach others about democracy. Everything that happened with Trump is a politically motivated persecution against his political opponent, so it is . And this was done in front of the eyes of the American public and the whole world. They only revealed their internal problems,” explained Putin.
“If they are trying to fight us in some way, it is good, because it shows who is fighting us. It shows, as they said in the Soviet era, ‘the animal face of American imperialism, the animal smile,'” he added.
Many analysts speculate that Putin is trying to extend the war in Ukraine until the end of 2024, when the new president of the United States will be known.
This is because Trump and most Republicans, unlike Biden, are not convinced to support Ukraine like the Democratic government, which sent Kiev more than $70 billion in economic aid. .
Trump himself said he would end the war in Ukraine in “less than 24 hours.”
However, even Putin is not so convinced of this: “There will be no fundamental changes in US foreign policy, no matter who is elected president. The US authorities see Russia as an existing that enemy.”
