North Korea’s dictator arrived in Russia for talks on supplying it with weapons as President Putin accused Britain of trying to provoke a Kremlin attack on a Ukrainian nuclear power plant.
Kim Jong-un was given a red-carpet welcome by Russian officials, along with a military band and guard of honour, in Khasan, a Russian town near the North Korean border.
• Putin meets Kim Jong-un to discuss possible arms deal — follow live
The Kremlin said that Kim and Putin would meet after an economic forum in Vladivostok, in Russia’s far east. Both seem determined to ignore warnings from Washington that any delivery of North Korean weapons to the Russian military in Ukraine would be a “huge mistake”.
The White House has also threatened to impose additional sanctions on North Korea if the deal goes through.
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“The interests of our two countries are important to us, and not warnings from Washington,” Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, said.
North Korean state media quoted Kim as saying his first visit to Russia in nearly four years demonstrated the “strategic importance” of the two countries’ relations.
“Kim Jong-un said that his visit to the Russian Federation . . . is a clear manifestation of the stand of the WPK [Worker’s Party of Korea] and the government of the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] prioritising the strategic importance of DPRK-Russia relations,” the KCNA news agency said.
Kim’s trip also marks his first foreign visit after the worldwide public health crisis, KCNA noted, referring to the pandemic.
Nuclear-armed North Korea has emerged as one of Russia’s staunchest allies since Putin ordered tanks into Ukraine last year, creating the biggest conflict in Europe since 1945.
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The isolated state is said to possess tens of millions of artillery shells and rockets based on Soviet-era designs that could be used to refill Moscow’s depleted arsenal after 18 months of fighting in Ukraine.
Russia’s military fired about 12 million artillery shells in Ukraine last year alone, according to the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based think tank. The Kremlin’s munitions factories are able to turn out about 2.5 million shells a year.
Peskov said that Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defence minister, would also be involved in the talks with Kim. Shoigu travelled to Pyongyang to meet the dictator in July, a trip widely seen as preparing the ground for his meeting this week with Putin.
Kim is being accompanied on his visit to Russia by senior government officials, including his foreign minister, Choe Son-hui, and Jo Chun-ryong, who is in charge of North Korea’s munitions industry. He is expected to request access to Russian satellite and nuclear submarine technology in exchange for any arms deliveries.
He may also be seeking food and energy assistance for North Korea’s struggling economy.
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Pro-Kremlin analysts have suggested that Russia could also withdraw its support for United Nations sanctions imposed on North Korea over its nuclear weapons programme.
Putin lashed out at Britain, alleging — without providing evidence — that its secret services were behind what he said was a Ukrainian attempt to cripple power lines at a Russian nuclear power station. Putin said the alleged plot had come to light after Ukrainian “saboteurs” captured by Russian forces had confessed during interrogations. “Do they understand what they are playing with?” Putin asked. “Are they trying to provoke us into retaliating against Ukrainian atomic power stations? Does the British prime minister know what his secret services are doing in Ukraine?”
He insisted his claim was the “total, absolute, pure truth”.
• Kim plans talks with Putin over arms for Ukraine war
Putin accused Britain of “underestimating” the possible consequences of its alleged actions, which he suggested may have been overseen by Washington without Rishi Sunak’s knowledge. Downing Street has not commented.
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Putin did not specify which atomic facility he was referring to, but Russian forces have occupied the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine for more than a year. Moscow claims the entire Zaporizhzhia region as its territory.
Kim and Putin may meet at the Vostochny spaceport, which is also in Russia’s vast, far-east region. Putin is due to visit the facility, and Kim’s slow-moving train was heading in that direction.
However, Putin declined to reveal his plans. “When I get there, you will know,” he said.
He had words of support for Donald Trump, claiming that the former US president’s prosecution on various charges, including election interference and hush payments of hush money, was politically motivated. “[This shows] the rottenness of the American political system,” Putin said.
He praised Trump’s promise to end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours if he is elected president next year. “This cannot but bring happiness,” Putin said.
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Trump has said that he will tell President Zelensky to “make a deal” with Russia if he returns to the White House, a comment that has been met with scorn in Kyiv.
Western officials have described the Kremlin’s pivot towards North Korea as a sign of desperation in Moscow. “Having to travel across the length of his own country to meet with an international pariah to ask for assistance in a war that he expected to win in the opening month — I would characterise it as him begging for assistance,” Matthew Miller, a US state department spokesman, said.
The French foreign ministry made similar comments, adding: “Russia is isolated to the point of being forced to turn to North Korea.”
General Sir Jim Hockenhull, commander of British strategic command, described the Russia-North Korea alliance as a “coalition of the desperate”. He said that any North Korean military assistance was unlikely to make a decisive contribution to the war in Ukraine.
• King sends Kim ‘good wishes’ as dictator prepares to meet Putin
“The rolodex of partners for Russia is a lot smaller than Ukraine’s. That’s why you’re seeing Russia reach out to pariah states like North Korea, as opposed to the wider choice being made by lots of nations opposing Putin’s illegal invasion,” he said.
The war in Ukraine has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced millions and flattened towns and cities across the country. However, Putin shows no sign of wanting to seek a ceasefire, boasting that more than a quarter of a million Russian men had volunteered to fight in Ukraine in the past six months. The claim could not be verified.
Putin also said that Russia was working on weapons that were based on “new physical principles”. He did not elaborate but state media said they include laser, ultrasonic and radio-frequency weapons.
Colonel General Andrey Mordvichev, who was recently promoted by Putin, told Russian state television earlier that the war in Ukraine was likely to be “just the start” of a wider war in Europe between Russia and western countries.
Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, called for the total mobilisation of Russian society to support the war effort. Speaking in St Petersburg, he said that Russia was locked in a battle for its survival against “the forces of evil”.
Kirill, one of Putin’s closest allies, said: “We need the mobilisation of everyone: the military and political forces. And, of course, the church must be mobilised, first of all, in order to pray for our authorities, the army, but also in order to be there, at the forefront [of the fighting].”
Hundreds of individual priests have spoken out against the war in Ukraine but the Russian Orthodox Church has clamped down on dissent within the clergy. It has labelled pacifism a “heretical” belief, and at least two priests who replaced the word “victory” with “peace” in a prayer written by Kirill have been banned from holding church services.
All Russians must mobilise, says head of Orthodox Church
Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, has urged the total mobilisation of Russian society for the war in Ukraine. Speaking in St Petersburg, Kirill said that Russia was locked into a battle for its survival against “the forces of evil” (Marc Bennetts writes).
Kirill, one of Putin’s biggest allies, said: “We need the mobilisation of everyone: the military and political forces. And, of course, the church must be mobilised — first of all, in order to pray for our authorities, the army, but also in order to be there, at the forefront [of the fighting].”
Although hundreds of individual priests have spoken out against the war in Ukraine, the Russian Orthodox Church has clamped down on dissent within the clergy. It has labelled pacifism a “heretical” belief and at least two priests who replaced the word “victory” with “peace” in a prayer written by Kirill have been banned from holding church services.
Putin and Kim have switched roles, says US general
The top-ranking US military officer says President Putin’s courting of Kim Jong-un shows he has turned to North Korea “with a tin cup in hand”.
General Mark Milley told ABC News that the meeting between the pair will show there has been a change in the relationship between the two countries, he told the US broadcaster.
“It looks to me as if Putin has gone to North Korea with a tin cup in hand asking for weapons, munitions and support, which is an inverse of their previous relationship.”
Milley added that Putin is likely to be successful in obtaining munitions and weapons from Pyongyang, but that it would have little impact on the war in Ukraine: “He’ll probably get something. I’m not sure how much or how fast, but he’ll probably get something out of the North Koreans. But I don’t know that they’re gonna get so much that it’ll make a substantive difference.”
Kim arrives in Khasan
Russian officials rolled out the red carpet for Kim Jong-un after his armoured train arrived in the country today for talks with President Putin that are expected to focus on North Korean weapons supplies for Moscow (Marc Bennetts writes).
Kim was escorted past a military guard into a train station in Khasan, the main border crossing between the two countries, according to images broadcast by state media. There was a heavy security presence at the station. Kim smiled as he stepped off his train, which was pulled into Khasan by a red Russian locomotive.
The Kremlin has said that Kim and Putin will meet after an economic forum in Vladivostok, a port city in Russia’s far east, which ends tomorrow. It has given no other details about the time and location of the talks, which come after Washington warned North Korean not to supply Russia with arms and munitions for use in Ukraine. Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defence minister, will also take part in the talks, Moscow has said.
Putin turns to Kim in desperation, says France
President Putin’s meeting with Kim Jong-un is a sign of the Russian leader’s international isolation, France has said.
“Russia is isolated to the point of being forced to turn to North Korea,” the foreign ministry spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre told reporters in Paris.
That isolation is reinforced, claim experts claimed, by the guest list at the conference Putin spoke at this morning. Previous attenders at the Eastern Economic Forum have included President Xi of China as well as high-level delegations from Japan and South Korea. This year Kim is the only regional leader to visit at the time of the conference, though he has not yet attended the forum.
Sweden could give jets to Ukraine
Sweden is the latest country to consider giving fighter jets to Ukraine, according to media reports in Stockholm.
The government will ask its armed forces to investigate the potential for sending Gripen fighter jets to Ukraine, Radio Sweden has reported.
Ministers want to know how a handover of jets would affect Sweden’s defence capabilities and how quickly Sweden, which applied to join Nato after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, could get new Gripen fighters, the radio station reported.
The government could make a formal request to the armed forces as early as Thursday to officially consider the issue.
Ukraine has reportedly expressed hope of receiving one division, consisting of up to 18 of the Swedish-made jets, which are produced by defence contractor Saab.
Kyiv is also receiving F-16 fighter jets from other countries, including Norway and Denmark, as it tries to counter Russian air dominance.
Putin: West wants to halt China’s ascent
President Putin has warned western countries that their attempt to “restrain” China’s ascent as a global power was doomed to failure (Marc Bennetts writes).
“Today the West is trying to restrain the development of China because it sees that China, under the leadership of our friend [President Xi] is developing by leaps and bounds. This leaves them shocked,” he told the economic forum in Vladivostok.
“They are doing everything to slow down the development of China, but this will not be possible, they are too late. That’s it, the train has left,” he added. He also said cooperation between Russia and China in security and defence was booming. “We have truly amazing relations in the area of international security and the co-ordination of our positions,” Putin said.
Russia has sought to boost trade, energy and military links with China since Putin ordered tanks into Ukraine 18 months ago, which lead to tough western sanctions. Beijing, which has profited from cheaper Russian oil and gas, has refused to impose its own sanctions on Moscow and has blamed Nato for provoking the war. Putin is expected to meet Xi in China in October.
Putin-Kim meeting is ‘fully fledged’
The Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Kim Jong-un’s trip to Russia is “a fully fledged visit”.
Peskov said: “There will be negotiations between two delegations, and after that, if necessary, the leaders will continue their communication one-on-one.”
While there has been speculation that the meeting between the two leaders will concentrate on the potential supply of weapons from North Korea to Russia to boost Moscow’s war in Ukraine, Russian officials have said that discussions could also include humanitarian aid to North Korea.
American officials, who first said the visit was imminent, said that arms talks between Russia and North Korea were advancing and that Kim and Putin were likely to discuss providing Russia with weapons for the war in Ukraine.
The North Korean leader does not travel abroad frequently, making only seven trips away from his country and twice stepping across the North-South Korean border in his 12 years in power. Four of those trips were to the North’s main political ally, China.
Trump peace would ‘bring happiness’, says Putin
President Putin responded to Donald Trump’s claim that the former US president could resolve the war in Ukraine, saying that “this is good”.
“We hear that Mr Trump says that he will solve pressing problems in a few days, including the Ukrainian crisis,” said Putin in Vladivostok. “Well, this cannot but bring happiness,” Putin said.
In June Trump told Fox News that he could bring an end to the 19-month war “in one day, one day”, because he knew the Russian and Ukrainian leaders “very well”.
It was not the first time he had made the boast. During his four years in the White House Trump repeatedly touted his good relations with Putin, while critics alleged he was submissive to the Russian leader.
Despite his upbeat words, Putin added that his country’s poor relations with the United States were unlikely to change much regardless of who became president.
Putin: Soviet Union wrong to crush Hungary and Czechoslovakia
President Putin said that the Soviet Union was wrong to send tanks into Czechoslovakia and Hungary to crush mass protests during the Cold War because it is wrong to “harm” other nations (Marc Bennetts writes).
“It was a mistake,” Putin said at an economic forum in Vladivostok, in Russia’s far eastern region. “It is not right to do anything in foreign policy that harms the interests of other peoples.”
Tens of thousands of people have been killed and entire towns and cities devastated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
However, Putin said that the United States and other western countries were repeating the mistakes of the Soviet Union. “[Washington] has no friends, it has only interests,” he said, without clarifying his remarks.
Putin’s comments came after he was asked about the image of the Soviet Union as a colonising power in eastern Europe. “We have never been colonialists anywhere. Our cooperation has always been built on an equal basis or with a desire to help and support,” he said.
More than 2,500 protesters were killed in Hungary in 1956 when the Kremlin sent in troops and tanks to put down an uprising against Moscow’s rule. Twelve years later, Soviet-led Warsaw Pact forces invaded Czechoslovakia to crush the country’s attempt to build “socialism with a human face.” About 150 people died.
Kim inherits love of trains
Kim Jong-un is travelling by train to Russia for his meeting with Putin (Gavin Blair writes). He inherited his love of trains from his family. His grandfather Kim Il-sung, the founder of North Korea, was gifted a luxury carriage by Joseph Stalin in the 1950s.
Kim’s father, Kim Jong-il, had a phobia of flying. In 2001 he took a three-week train trip to Moscow to meet Putin and was accompanied by the senior Kremlin figure Konstantin Pulikovsky.
Pulikovsky wrote a book about the trip, giving insights into the luxury life on a Kim train. He told of live lobsters and cases of Bordeaux and Beaujolais flown in from Paris and delivered to the train as it made its way across Russia.
“It was possible to order any dish of Russian, Chinese, Korean, Japanese and French cuisine,” Pulikovsky recalled.
Security and luxury remain paramount under Kim Jong-un. The slow-moving train he has travelled to Russia in is said to consist of 21 well-appointed, bullet-proof carriages. It has steel-plated walls and floors to protect against bomb attacks and consequently travels at a top speed of around 45kph.
Inside are pink leather sofas and TVs. In the past, the train has pulled one of Kim’s Mercedes-Benz limousines behind it on a special carriage, and even a helicopter for emergency escapes.
No need for conscription, insists Putin
Putin has also claimed that as many as 1,500 Russians are volunteering to join the military every day to help boost Moscow’s efforts in Ukraine.
He was responding to a question about whether Russia needed to introduce conscription for the war in Ukraine, something that the Kremlin has repeatedly said is not necessary.
Over the past six or seven months, 270,000 people have signed voluntary contracts, Putin said — a figure slightly lower than the 280,000 that the former president Dmitry Medvedev gave earlier this month.
When partial mobilisation was introduced by Moscow in September 2022, hundreds of thousands fled Russia to neighbouring countries, including Georgia and Kazakhstan, to avoid signing up.
Ukraine close to asking for peace talks, says Putin
Ukraine is running out of resources and could soon request peace talks, Putin also told the forum. In a wide-ranging speech, Putin, who ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, said Kyiv was sustaining heavy losses in its offensive against Russian forces in the south and east of the country.
The Russian leader said Ukraine might only enter talks when it runs out of resources but would use a potential cessation of hostilities to rearm. He added that Kyiv’s counter-offensive had yielded “no results”.
He also claimed that the supply of F-16 jets to Ukraine will “drag out the conflict”. Last month, the US approved sending F-16s from Denmark and the Netherlands, as soon as pilot training is completed, to bolster Ukraine’s defences.
Ukraine requested the planes to help to counter Russian air superiority.
Putin: Rotten US is persecuting Trump
President Putin said that the “political” prosecution of Donald Trump demonstrated “all the rottenness of the American system”.
He made the comments at an economic forum in Vladivostok this morning. Putin also said that significant changes in the relationship between Moscow and Washington were unlikely regardless of who becomes the next president of the United States.
Trump faces four separate criminal cases and 91 felony counts. Last month he was indicted in the US state of Georgia, relating to accusations he tried to subvert the 2020 presidential election there. He is also charged with a number of other alleged crimes, including trying to subvert democracy, mishandling official classified documents after leaving the White House, and falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment to a porn actress.
Despite his legal problems, Trump remains the Republican front-runner for next year’s presidential election and has described his legal problems as a witchhunt.
Meeting location unclear
There is speculation about where the two leaders will actually meet. Putin was speaking at an economic conference in far eastern city of Vladivostok this morning, some 130km (80 miles) from the border with North Korea. It had been assumed by some that they would meet there.
However, the Russian leader said he was planning to go to the relatively nearby Vostochny cosmodrome but did not say if that is where he planned to meet Kim.
Responding to a question at the forum, Putin said he had his own programme to visit Vostochny and “when I get there, you will know”.
Russian and foreign media have speculated that Kim will visit the Vostochny cosmodrome during his trip.
Kim’s green train was spotted at a railway station in Ussuriysk, a Russian city almost 100km (62 miles) north of Vladivostok.
Inside Kim’s luxury train
Kim Jong-un’s train is reported to consist of 21 bulletproof luxury carriages bookended by 90 more cars for the sake of security. The olive-green cars and white roof are offset by steel plates to protect against explosions.
Inside the darkened windows of the carriages for Kim and his entourage are leather sofas, TVs and satellite phones, with passengers said to be treated to gourmet meals and live music, conditions often contrasted with those of the average North Korean citizen. The train is also reported to boast a karaoke room and emergency medical facilities.
Kim, who inherited both the train and the leadership of the nation from his father, Kim Jong-il, evidently prefers rail travel to flying. His father was said to have a phobia of aeroplanes and often travelled by private train. Jong-il died of a heart attack during a domestic train journey in 2011.
Air Koryo, the North’s airline, operates international flights to only four destinations — three in China, plus Vladivostok in the far east of Russia. Nevertheless, Kim chose the long train journey as he did on his last foreign trip, also to Vladivostok to meet Putin in 2019.
Kim in Russia to talk arms with Putin
Kim Jong-un’s armoured luxury train crossed into Russia early today, carrying the North Korean leader to a meeting with President Putin.
The two leaders are expected to discuss a deal for North Korea to supply Soviet-era artillery shells and anti-tank missile munitions to Russia for use in the war in Ukraine. In return, Kim is likely to request access to satellite and nuclear submarine technology, though he may also be seeking food and energy assistance for North Korea’s struggling economy.
The Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “Obviously, as neighbours, our countries also co-operate in sensitive areas that should not be the subject of public disclosure and announcements. This is perfectly normal for neighbouring states.”
• Kim plans talks with Putin over arms for Ukraine war
Peskov dismissed warnings from Washington of consequences if North Korea provides arms to Russia.
Pyongynang’s official Korean Central News Agency said that Kim had boarded his personal train bound for Russia on Sunday afternoon, accompanied by members of the ruling party, government and military. Russian state media confirmed that Kim had crossed the border into the Primorsky region on Tuesday morning, showing pictures of his train being pulled by a Russian Railways engine.
