The United States is claiming that Russia is supplying weapons and armaments from North Korea. BBC. A US official claimed that Russia has bought thousands of artillery shells and rockets from North Korea and could be forced to buy more due to alleged supply shortages. Russia and North Korea have had closer ties recently with North Korea recognizing the breakaway republics of Luhansk and Donetsk. Russia would have plenty of money to pay for any North Korean weapon purchases as high energy prices have been an economic boon for them. Russia has used foreign sources for certain weapons, most notably drones from Iran.
My Comment:
This story makes zero sense and as far as I am concerned it is about as credible as the story last month where North Korea was going to send thousands of troops to fight in Ukraine. I honestly don't understand why media organizations are taking it seriously. But even the BBC has an article up acting like it is happening.
I guess it is possible. I had similar reactions to the Iran supplying drones story. That seemed pretty unlikely but the fact was that Russia did have a weakness there in drones and Iran filled the need nicely. I can't see that with artillery shells and rockets though. Russia has factories pumping out massive amounts of weapons every day and still have huge stockpiles of Soviet era weapons. Why would they want to buy North Korea's old rusted stockpile of junk? And how does it make any sense logistically to send weapons all the way from North Korea? I mean, they do share a border, but it's about as far away from Ukraine it can be while still being in Russia.
The only reason I could think this could be true is because it would help solidify Russian ties with North Korea. North Korea absolutely needs foreign currency for pretty much everything and one of the few resources they have is weapons. Buying this ammunition wouldn't then be about helping the Russians, it would be about helping the North Koreans.
Russia would gain on this as well because closer relations would be a boon for them. North Korea could be a good customer for their fuel as the country has little natural resources itself. They could also be a decent place to buy Russian goods, even though the country is very poor. Plus they would have an ally, a questionably useful ally, but an ally nonetheless.
But like I said, I'm extremely skeptical of this report. Much of the news about Ukraine these days is at best slanted or even worse utterly fabricated. The only source for this report is the US government who doesn't have a good record of truthfulness lately.
And again, it doesn't make any sense that Russia was the one running out of weapons. Even the western media is saying that Ukraine is the one running out of weapons. I thought the admissions from the Ukraine Defense Ministry was enlightening as they claimed that they were switching from Soviet stockpiles to NATO weapons. That means that their supply of pre-war weapons and captured Russian gear is almost or completely gone.
And it also seems like the gear that they have is getting destroyed very quickly. Though information about the Kherson offensive is scarce, everything I have heard is that the Ukrainians are taking heavy casualties, or even being routed. Of course, I never thought the offensive was a good idea for the Ukrainians in the first place as the open steppe plays into the advantages the Russians have in air power and artillery.
The one thing in the BBC article I did agree with was that Russia is making out like a bandit when it comes to energy sales. Prices have skyrocketed and that will only get worse (or better from the Russian perspective) now that Europe has largely been cut off from Russian energy. It's not like Russia lacks customers for their natural gas. And while they are making billions, Europe is struggling to keep the lights on...
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