Berliner Boersenzeitung - Russian senators ratify North Korean defence pact

EUR -
AED 3.855359
AFN 71.377323
ALL 98.9304
AMD 409.516427
ANG 1.892125
AOA 958.34413
ARS 1056.623594
AUD 1.615519
AWG 1.889397
AZN 1.783436
BAM 1.959346
BBD 2.119737
BDT 125.457077
BGN 1.955898
BHD 0.395617
BIF 3039.829534
BMD 1.049665
BND 1.414788
BOB 7.281457
BRL 6.100126
BSD 1.0499
BTN 88.512294
BWP 14.342507
BYN 3.435719
BYR 20573.431932
BZD 2.116271
CAD 1.468019
CDF 3012.538394
CHF 0.930822
CLF 0.037165
CLP 1025.470248
CNY 7.599311
CNH 7.606927
COP 4605.667141
CRC 535.068474
CUC 1.049665
CUP 27.81612
CVE 110.686953
CZK 25.297954
DJF 186.546724
DKK 7.457556
DOP 63.403524
DZD 140.299428
EGP 52.079328
ERN 15.744973
ETB 129.119469
FJD 2.388985
FKP 0.828518
GBP 0.835408
GEL 2.875939
GGP 0.828518
GHS 16.58171
GIP 0.828518
GMD 74.526346
GNF 9059.657727
GTQ 8.106673
GYD 219.655948
HKD 8.169091
HNL 26.482792
HRK 7.487532
HTG 137.799417
HUF 409.458002
IDR 16637.71341
ILS 3.824506
IMP 0.828518
INR 88.457727
IQD 1375.585844
IRR 44164.650178
ISK 145.073956
JEP 0.828518
JMD 166.621585
JOD 0.744525
JPY 161.875648
KES 135.931727
KGS 91.099783
KHR 4252.192128
KMF 495.96684
KPW 944.698007
KRW 1469.588545
KWD 0.323055
KYD 0.874917
KZT 524.238873
LAK 23050.641277
LBP 94049.974422
LKR 305.502961
LRD 188.939707
LSL 19.03039
LTL 3.099387
LVL 0.634932
LYD 5.127613
MAD 10.574845
MDL 19.19247
MGA 4901.935038
MKD 61.604812
MMK 3409.270632
MNT 3566.761255
MOP 8.413649
MRU 41.886862
MUR 49.039901
MVR 16.227576
MWK 1821.168622
MXN 21.256448
MYR 4.673157
MZN 67.084504
NAD 19.030647
NGN 1771.288201
NIO 38.575455
NOK 11.650062
NPR 141.620031
NZD 1.795658
OMR 0.404098
PAB 1.04992
PEN 3.982432
PGK 4.225689
PHP 61.895602
PKR 291.596027
PLN 4.312506
PYG 8179.805456
QAR 3.821305
RON 4.976566
RSD 116.999844
RUB 109.171889
RWF 1438.040905
SAR 3.941569
SBD 8.799923
SCR 14.330794
SDG 631.372893
SEK 11.529645
SGD 1.412723
SHP 0.828518
SLE 23.858676
SLL 22010.952976
SOS 599.826672
SRD 37.256789
STD 21725.944051
SVC 9.186628
SYP 2637.314389
SZL 19.030664
THB 36.384557
TJS 11.191784
TMT 3.673827
TND 3.338456
TOP 2.458422
TRY 36.294159
TTD 7.131043
TWD 34.062702
TZS 2781.612304
UAH 43.569361
UGX 3890.040978
USD 1.049665
UYU 44.750999
UZS 13467.200332
VES 48.873774
VND 26682.481618
VUV 124.618326
WST 2.930235
XAF 657.15898
XAG 0.034777
XAU 0.0004
XCD 2.836771
XDR 0.803054
XOF 655.517644
XPF 119.331742
YER 262.33747
ZAR 18.932858
ZMK 9448.244693
ZMW 28.950504
ZWL 337.991668
  • RIO

    0.6300

    62.98

    +1%

  • BTI

    -0.0500

    37.33

    -0.13%

  • BP

    -0.4000

    29.32

    -1.36%

  • GSK

    0.1900

    34.15

    +0.56%

  • AZN

    0.7700

    66.4

    +1.16%

  • NGG

    0.1500

    63.26

    +0.24%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0300

    6.77

    -0.44%

  • VOD

    0.1800

    8.91

    +2.02%

  • RBGPF

    0.8100

    61

    +1.33%

  • RELX

    -0.1800

    46.57

    -0.39%

  • CMSC

    0.0578

    24.73

    +0.23%

  • CMSD

    0.1200

    24.58

    +0.49%

  • SCS

    0.4500

    13.72

    +3.28%

  • BCE

    0.2500

    27.02

    +0.93%

  • BCC

    8.7200

    152.5

    +5.72%

  • JRI

    0.1600

    13.37

    +1.2%

Russian senators ratify North Korean defence pact
Russian senators ratify North Korean defence pact / Photo: YURI KOCHETKOV - POOL/AFP

Russian senators ratify North Korean defence pact

Russian lawmakers on Wednesday voted unanimously to ratify a landmark mutual defence pact with North Korea, as Kyiv and the West say Pyongyang sent thousands of troops to fight for Russia against Ukraine.

Text size:

The agreement formalises months of deepening security cooperation between the two nations, which were Communist allies throughout the Cold War.

North Korea has become one of the most vocal and important backers of Russia's full-scale offensive on Ukraine.

The West has long accused Pyongyang of supplying artillery shells and missiles to Moscow to fire on Ukraine.

The latest accusations, based on intelligence reports, that North Korea has deployed around 10,000 troops to Russia suggest even deeper involvement in the conflict and have triggered an outcry and warnings in Seoul, Kyiv and Western capitals.

Ahead of the vote, presidential official Andrei Rudenko addressed the house, saying Moscow's relations with Pyongyang have reached new heights.

Rudenko praised North Korea for being the "only country in the world to publicly support" Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea and 2022 annexation of eastern Ukraine following Moscow's full-scale offensive.

"I believe this treaty is very timely," he told the house.

The vote came as Donald Trump claimed a victory in the US presidential election.

- 'Mutual assistance' -

Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed the strategic partnership treaty in June, during the Kremlin chief's visit to Pyongyang.

They said it would obligate "mutual assistance in case of aggression", with Putin calling it at the time a "breakthrough document".

It also commits them to cooperate internationally to oppose Western sanctions and coordinate positions at the United Nations.

Putin visited Pyongyang this summer in his first trip to North Korea in 24 years.

Kim has called Putin his "closest comrade" while Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said last week that North Korea would "stand firmly by our Russian comrades until victory day".

She called Moscow's offensive against Ukraine a "sacred struggle" and said Pyongyang believed in Putin's "wise leadership".

- 'Frontline' -

The treaty will now go back to Putin's desk for a final signature.

The ratification comes as North Korea faces growing international pressure not to send its troops into combat alongside Russia.

South Korea warned Tuesday that a substantial deployment was already near the combat zone, including in Russia's western Kursk region, where Kyiv has been mounting a cross-border offensive since the summer.

"More than 10,000 North Korean soldiers are currently in Russia, and we assess that a significant portion of them are deployed to frontline areas, including Kursk," Jeon Ha-gyu, a spokesman for the South Korean Defence Ministry, said Tuesday.

Asked directly about the reports last month, Putin did not deny that North Korean troops had been sent to Russia.

And several other Russian officials have deflected requests to comment on Western intelligence.

"The Kyiv regime is trying to do everything to involve Seoul" in the conflict, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday, refusing to comment on the substance of the allegations.

- Missile tests -

In exchange for sending troops, the West fears Russia is offering North Korea technological support that could advance Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme.

The reclusive state fired a salvo of short-range ballistic missiles early Tuesday, Seoul's military said, its second launch in days.

But sending North Korean troops to fight against Ukraine would be a major escalation in the conflict, more than two and a half years after Moscow launched its full-scale offensive.

Russia has seized the momentum on the battlefield this year as it grinds through the eastern Donbas region, capturing a string of towns and villages as Ukraine struggles with manpower and ammunition shortages.

(H.Schneide--BBZ)