Category: Russia

I highly recommend watching the entire news clip below of Russian propagandists trying to explain the defeat of their forces in Northeast Ukraine. In the clip the propagandists also make the case that North Korea should join Russia in an anti-Imperialist coalition against the west in Ukraine. I mentioned this before that it appears that the Russian propaganda apparatus is trying to will aid from North Korea into existence.

The Kim regime may be a lot of things, but they are not stupid. They will probably happily sell munitions to the Russians, but I don’t see them sending personnel and equipment in what is increasingly looking like a lost cause. The final statement from the show doesn’t exactly inspire confidence either, “Stalin called for ones who panic to be shot”.

It is arguable that the use of the occupied Kuril Islands for this military exercise is to signal to Japan that China will help Russia defend them in a contingency. With the Russian military so bogged down in Ukraine it is likely Russia could not hold these islands if the Japanese made a move on them:

 Japan has protested to Russia over multinational military exercises being conducted on Russian-held islands claimed by Japan, and is seriously concerned about shooting drills by Russian and Chinese warships off Japan’s northern coast, an official said Monday.

Beijing has been increasing its military cooperation with Moscow, and has been taking part in the multinational “Vostok 2020” drills since late August at a number of locations in Russia’s far east.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno criticized Russia for holding exercises on two of the four disputed islands, which Japan calls the Northern Territories, in the Kuril chain off Japan’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido. It was not clear whether China was part of the exercises on the disputed islands.

He said Japan’s Defense Ministry spotted six Russian and Chinese warships firing machine guns into the Sea of Japan about 190 kilometers (118 miles) west of Cape Kamui on Hokkaido on Saturday.

“Japan will continue to monitor the movements of these ships with serious concern, and will take all possible measures to conduct warning and surveillance activities in the waters surrounding Japan,” Matsuno said at a news conference.

SF Gate

You can read more at the link, but Russian and Chinese warships also passed through the Soya Straight between Honshu and Hokkaido once again demonstrating how they are trying to intentionally be provocative towards Japan.

This is a nice troll response by the Ukraine Defense Ministry to news that the Russians are buying munitions from the North Koreans:

Russia has been forced to buy military hardware from North Korea as sanctions squeeze Moscow’s ability to supply its military, the US says.

A US official revealed Moscow is the process of purchasing millions of rockets and artillery shells from Pyongyang for use in Ukraine.

And they said that Russia could be forced to buy additional North Korean weaponry as the war dragged on. 

Buying from North Korea is a sign of “severe supply shortages”, they added.

The intelligence was first reported by the New York Times. Ukraine’s defence ministry tweeted a mocking response to the report, saying that it showed “Soviet weapons” had “exhausted their potential”.

The ministry said the while Ukraine was switching to Nato standards, Russia was heading in the direction of North Korean standards – be it in the field of “weapons, politics or standard of living”.

BBC

You can read more at the link.

The Russians are trying to flex their muscles in the East Sea:

Two Russian Tu-95 bombers flew through Korea’s air defense identification zone (Kadiz) Tuesday, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).  
   
The JCS confirmed that the planes entered the Kadiz after the Russian Ministry of Defense warned they would.  
   
“Two strategic missile carriers for long-range aviation performed a scheduled flight in the airspace over the neutral waters of the Sea of Japan,” the ministry said in a statement, referring to the East Sea. “The flight duration was about seven hours. At certain stages during the route, the strategic missile carriers were escorted by F-16 fighters of the Republic of Korea air force.” 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

It looks like the Putin regime is looking for some cheap near slave labor to rebuild the areas they destroyed and occupied in Ukraine:

North Korea could send workers to two Russian-controlled territories in eastern Ukraine, according to Russia’s ambassador in Pyongyang – a move that would pose a challenge to international sanctions against the North’s nuclear weapons programme.

According to NK News, a Seoul-based website, ambassador Alexander Matsegora said North Korean workers could help rebuild the war-shattered infrastructure in the self-proclaimed people’s republics in Donetsk and Luhansk. (……..)

He told the Russian newspaper Izvestia in an interview, according to NK News, that “highly qualified and hard-working Korean builders, who are capable of working in the most difficult conditions, could help us restore our social, infrastructure and industrial facilities”.

The Guardian

You can read more at the link, but Russia has a long history of using North Korean near slave laborers which is also a lucrative money making enterprise for the Kim regime.

The ADIZ incursions happened reportedly last month before North Korea’s ICBM test:

Russian and Chinese military aircraft entered South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) without prior notice last month ahead of North Korea’s long-range missile launch, a Seoul official said Tuesday.

Two Russian planes flew into the KADIZ on March 24, prompting South Korea’s military to scramble its fighters to prevent their approach to the country’s airspace, according to the official.

The incident came just hours before Pyongyang test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) into the East Sea — a launch that ended its yearslong moratorium on nuclear and ICBM testing.

The Russian warplanes flew in the KADIZ northwest of South Korea’s Ulleung Island in the East Sea at around 11 a.m. and moved out of it 30 minutes later.

A day earlier, a Chinese military plane also entered the KADIZ near Ieo Islet, a submerged rock south of South Korea’s southern resort island of Jeju. The official said the area was where the air defense identification zones of South Korea and China overlapped.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but China has been claiming Ieodo as their territory and have been flying bombers over it in response for years. The Russians have often had Korean ADIZ incursions and even actively violated Korean airspace over Dokdo before that led to warning shots from the ROK Air Force.

It looks like the Russians are moving equipment from the Kamchatka peninsula and Kuril Islands over to to mainland to be transported over to the fight in Ukraine:

Emanual was there to see off a 38-ton shipment of nonlethal military supplies, including helmets and bulletproof vests, that Japan donated to Ukraine. 

Japan has reported spotting numerous Russia warships on the move in international waters near its northern borders this month.

Most recently, four Russian amphibious ships, traveling in pairs, were spotted east-northeast of Japan’s main island of Honshu on March 15 and 16, Japan’s Joint Staff said in a news release last week.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but Putin must be getting desperate if he is having to move equipment from the far reaches of Russia to fight the Ukrainians. Notice that the picture shows a ship filled with transport trucks. Shortages of trucks to move supplies into Ukraine has been something reported in the media that Russia has been lacking to sustain offensive operations.

This is a list South Korea and Japan should be proud to be part of:

Russia has designated South Korea as an “unfriendly” nation after Seoul joined international sanctions against Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine, according to local reports Monday. 

The Russian government released a decree that South Korea is included on its list of “unfriendly states” that “have carried out unfriendly actions” against Russia, its nationals or entities, Moscow’s state news agency TASS reported. 

The United States, European Union states, Japan and several other nations that have imposed or joined sanctions against Russia following its attacks on Ukraine were also labeled as unfriendly states subject to restrictions imposed by Moscow.

Yonhap

You can read more at the list.