Russian senators ratify North Korean defence pact

MOSCOW: 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.

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.

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”.