Is Russia Intending to Raise Its Voice by Using North Korea as Leverage?

It has been found that the bilateral relations between North Korea and Russia are becoming increasingly amicable these days. Pyongyang has focused on its relations with Moscow since 2013, when its relations with Beijing deteriorated in the wake of its third nuclear test.

Russia has supplied thousands of tons of flour to the North even after the adoption of the UN Security Council Resolution 2270 and, more recently, Russian news agencies such as the Moscow Times reported that Minister for the Development of the Russian Far East Alexander Galushka proposed a mutual visa-free agreement to the North at the ASEAN-Russia Summit in Sochi as of late. In addition, the minister is planning to push ahead with the Rajin-Khasan Project in spite of South Korea’s refusal to participate in it and the UN Security Council Resolution. 

Moreover, Russia is putting a brake on the UN Security Council’s press statement adoption against North Korea’s mid-range ballistic missile test carried out on April 28. According to experts, Russia is calling for a reduction of joint military drills of South Korea and the United States in the draft of the press statement led by the U.S. Still, some of them are saying that the brake is not to protect North Korea but to keep the United States in check.

Russia has turned its eyes toward East Asia since the Western sanctions following the Ukraine crisis. It seems that Russia’s insistence on the six-party talks and procrastination regarding the adoption of the press statement is to increase its presence in the North Korean nuclear crisis in this context.