The White House on Thursday said US intelligence officials have determined that Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu spoke last week to North Korean officials during a visit to Pyongyang about increasing the sale of munitions to Moscow for its war in Ukraine.
Shoigu made the pitch during his visit to North Korea for events marking the 70th anniversary of the armistice that halted fighting in the 1950-53 Korean War, according to White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby. Russian President Vladimir Putin dispatched Shoigu to lead the Russian delegation for the commemoration.
The Biden administration says Shoigu’s pitch to tighten cooperation with North Korea underscored that the Kremlin has become reliant on the country, as well as Iran, for the arms it needs to fight its war against Ukraine. North Korea and Iran are largely isolated on the international stage for their nuclear programs and human rights records.
“This is yet another example of how desperate Mr. Putin has become because his war machine is being affected by the sanctions and the export controls,” Kirby said. “He is going through a vast amount of inventory to try to subjugate Ukraine, and he’s reaching out to countries like North Korea, like Iran, and certainly he’s been trying to reach out to China to get support for his war machine.”
In March, the White House said it had gathered intelligence that showed that Russia was looking to broker a food-for-arms deal with North Korea, in which Moscow would provide the North with needed food and other commodities in return for munitions from Pyongyang,
Late last year, the White House said it had determined that the Wagner Group, a private Russian military company, had taken delivery of an arms shipment from North Korea to help bolster its forces fighting in Ukraine on behalf of Russia.
