Russian President Vladimir Putin said he could not exclude providing North Korean leader Kim Jong-un with high-precision weapons in response to Western military assistance for Ukraine.
Swedish authorities say Russia is behind “harmful interference” deliberately targeting the Nordic country’s satellite networks that it first noted days after joining Nato earlier this year.
The head of Ukraine’s anti-graft agency was summoned to parliament but failed to show up after legislators sought to question him about potential leaks of confidential information to people under investigation.
Russia may send North Korea high-precision arms, says Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin said he could not exclude providing North Korean leader Kim Jong-un with high-precision weapons in response to Western military assistance for Ukraine.
“We reserve the right to supply arms in other regions of the world,” Putin said late on Thursday at a press conference in Hanoi. “Bearing in mind our agreements with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, I don’t rule this out.”
The two leaders signed a deal on Wednesday to provide immediate military aid if one of them is attacked, rekindling an agreement dating back to the Cold War when the Soviet Union was a main backer for Pyongyang. Kim said the agreement elevated relations with Russia to an alliance.
The pact, dubbed the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty, also says Russia and North Korea will work together to strengthen their defence capabilities, while expanding cooperation in trade and investment.
The warning is likely to unnerve the US and its partners and ratchet up tensions. It also raises the risks for Western countries responding to provocations from Moscow and Pyongyang.
“Westerners give arms to Ukraine and say ‘We don’t control how they are used afterward,’” Putin told reporters in response to a question on the provision of advanced arms. “We can also say the same.”
South Korea, earlier on Thursday, said it would reevaluate its policy of prohibiting the export of lethal aid to countries such as Ukraine and expressed concern over the pact between Moscow and Pyongyang. Putin told reporters that it would be a mistake for South Korea to provide weapons to Kyiv.
Read more: South Korea mulls arms for Ukraine in wake of Kim-Putin deal
The US, South Korea and Japan have accused Kim’s regime of sending munitions and ballistic missiles to aid Putin in his war on Ukraine. Moscow and Pyongyang have denied the arms transfers despite ample evidence showing them taking place.
Putin also said Russia was considering changes in its nuclear doctrine in response to discussions in the West about “lowering the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons” and the development of less powerful arms. Russia recently held combat drills to practice the use of tactical nuclear weapons.
The Russian leader has repeatedly brandished the threat to use nuclear weapons since the start of his February 2022 invasion, drawing condemnation from the US and its North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies.
Still, Putin said Russia did not need to introduce the idea of a so-called preventative strike. “In a retaliatory strike, the enemy will be guaranteed to be destroyed,” he said.
Putin was in North Korea on his first visit in 24 years before travelling to Vietnam.
Newest Nato member Sweden says Russia disrupting its satellite networks
Swedish authorities say Russia is behind “harmful interference” deliberately targeting the Nordic country’s satellite networks that it first noted days after joining Nato earlier this year.
The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority asked the radio regulations board of the Geneva-based International Telecommunications Union to address the Russian disruptions at a meeting that starts on Monday, according to a 4 June letter to the United Nations agency that has not been previously reported.
The PTS, as the Swedish agency is called, complained to Russia about the interference on 21 March, according to the letter. That was two weeks after the country joined Nato, cementing the military alliance’s position in the Baltic Sea.
Russia has increasingly sought to disrupt European communication systems since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, as it tests the preparedness of the European Union and Nato. European satellite companies have been targeted by Russian radio frequency interference for months, leading to interrupted broadcasts and, in at least two instances, violent programming replacing content on a children’s channel.
Swedish authorities said interference from Russia and Crimea had targeted three different Sirius satellite networks situated at the orbital position of 5° east. That location is one of the major satellite positions serving Nordic countries and Eastern Europe.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said he was unaware of the issue. A spokesperson for Sweden’s PTS declined to comment beyond the contents of the letter.
“These disruptions are, of course, serious and can be seen as part of wider Russian hybrid actions aimed at Sweden and others,” Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said in a statement to Bloomberg. “We are working together with other countries to find a response to this action.”
Kristersson added that the disruption affected TV broadcasts in Ukraine that relied on the targeted satellite, which is owned by a Swedish company, which he didn’t identify.
Read more: Putin’s hybrid war opens a second front on Nato’s eastern border
France, the Netherlands and Luxembourg have filed similar complaints to the ITU, which coordinates the global sharing of radio frequencies and satellite orbits. The countries are all seeking to discuss the interference at the Radio Regulations Board meeting next week.
Ukraine anti-graft chief summoned to Parliament, fails to show
The head of Ukraine’s anti-graft agency was summoned to parliament but failed to show up after legislators sought to question him about potential leaks of confidential information to people under investigation.
Semen Kryvonos, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau’s head, didn’t meet on Thursday with members of a committee, saying before he was expected in parliament that a probe into possible leaks had been launched.
“Efforts should be focused not on the political process, but on carrying out effective detective work and investigation in order to achieve quick and fair results,” said Kryvonos on Facebook.
The bureau, known as Nabu, is part of Ukraine’s anti-graft infrastructure and was established at the demand of Kyiv’s foreign donors to combat corruption in the country, which has now been repelling Russia’s invasion for more than two years.
Ahead of the anti-graft chief’s scheduled meeting with legislators, media outlet Ukrayinska Pravda also reported on Thursday that detectives from his agency hadn’t executed a court-ordered search at the house of Oleksiy Chernyshov, who is now the chief executive officer of the state-run energy firm Naftogaz Ukrainy.
A representative of Chernyshov said he denied any wrongdoing, saying that the only topic he had discussed with Kryvonos was aimed at raising the transparency of Naftogaz. Chernyshov wanted to sign a memorandum with Kryvonos so that Nabu could check candidates for job vacancies at the energy company, his representative said.
US diverts Patriot missiles ordered by allies to Ukraine
The US was halting deliveries of key air defence missiles to allies, directing shipments to Ukraine instead in a bid to help bolster the country amid the continuing aerial barrage from Russia, said the White House.
Raytheon’s Patriot and Nasams surface-to-air missiles would be redirected to Ukraine as part of a “difficult but necessary decision” to reprioritise planned deliveries, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Thursday.
The move comes as some European countries, including Spain and Greece have so far baulked at requests to transfer their systems to Ukraine. But Kyiv has described air defence systems — and particularly advanced Patriots — as crucial for protecting population centres and critical infrastructure, including the country’s badly battered electrical grid.
“If any of our other partners were ever in a situation similar to Ukraine’s, we would go to extraordinary lengths to support their security as well,” said Kirby. “This decision demonstrates our commitment to supporting our partners when they’re in existential danger.”
The new missiles are expected to arrive in the coming weeks and should provide Ukraine with capabilities through the remainder of this and the next fiscal year, said Kirby. Deliveries to other countries could resume within 16 months, and all orders were expected to be eventually fulfilled.
Germany, Poland, and Romania are among the nations with outstanding orders for the Patriots, according to the Financial Times, which first reported the decision to divert orders.
“We’re going to make sure we give Ukraine the critical air defence capabilities they need now and into the future, and we’re going to keep working with our allies and partners to make sure that they, too, get the air defence capabilities that they ordered,” said Kirby.
On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Romania had also agreed to provide his country with an additional Patriot system. DM