No North Korean Weapons To Russia, Only Workers, Says Ukraine Military Intel
Following the DPRK’s denial that it has plans to sell weapons to Russia, senior officials in Ukraine’s military intelligence community agree that North Korean weapons sales to Russia are not in the cards. Nevertheless, Ukrainian intelligence still believes the prospect of North Korean workers being dispatched to occupied areas of Ukraine remains.
“The only way North Korea can help Russia is with Koreans” – Ukrainian Military Intelligence[1]
North Korea is incapable of completely fulfilling requests from Russian authorities for armaments, and the only thing that the DPRK can help them with is Koreans themselves.
This was argued in RBC-Ukraine’s “How sanctions have weakened Russia’s ‘defense industry’ and where the Kremlin is seeking weapons.”
According to the director of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Directorate of Intelligence, Andriy Yusov, the DPRK can help Russia using its citizens as a cheap labor pool.
“North Korea can help, first and foremost, by sending Koreans themselves. Not in a military capacity, but as a work force. As far as direct military assistance goes, no matter what kind of public rhetoric various authoritarian regimes spread, they also pay attention to sanctions policies” he said.
Concurrently, CSTO[2] countries could not offer support to the Russian Federation and lead their armies into battle in Ukraine. Those regular troops of foreign nationality that the Ukrainian armed forces have captured were serving in the Russian Armed Forces.
“It’s still too early to speak of systematic cooperation with either Tajikistan or Kyrgyzstan in terms of deploying regular troops. Yet as the search for aid continues, the geographic scope can become wider” Yusov added.
Earlier the defense intelligence agency revealed that Russia is trying to buy Soviet-era armaments from Central Asian countries.
That’s why Russia is requesting aid from Iran and the DPRK, as Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told RBC Ukraine in an interview. As he stated, the Russian army, the so-called “the second-most powerful army in the world”, miscalculated its supply of resources when it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Original article by RBC Ukraine. Translated by Anthony V. Rinna.
[1] Source: “The only way North Korea can help Russia is with Koreans – Ukrainian Military Intelligence [Все, чем может помочь Северная Корея России – это корейцами, – ГУР]”, RBC Ukraine, September 23, 2022, https://www.rbc.ua/ukr/news/vse-chim-mozhe-dopomogti-pivnichna-koreya-1663935862.html
[2] Collective Security Treaty Organization
