Russia is reportedly buying millions of rockets and artillery shells and rockets from North Korea, the United States claimed.
According to a newly declassified American intelligence, the recent plan is a sign that global sanctions have successfully restricted the country’s supply chains, forcing the country to go to pariah states for military supplies.
The revelation comes just days after Russia received its initial shipments of drones made from Iran. According to the American officials, some of the drones had mechanical problems.
In a statement released by the U.S. government officials, it was also revealed that Russia’s decision to turn to Iran, and now North Korea, was a sign that “sanctions and export controls imposed by the United States and Europe were hurting Moscow’s ability to obtain supplies for its army,” the New York Times reported.
In the details disclosed by the US from the declassified intelligence regarding the timing, size of the shipment of the exact weaponry, they revealed that there is no way yet to independently verify the sale.
The report also revealed that a U.S. official said that, “beyond short-range rockets and artillery shells, Russia was expected to try to purchase additional North Korean equipment going forward.”
“The Kremlin should be alarmed that it has to buy anything at all from North Korea,” Mason Clark, who leads the Russia team at the Institute for the Study of War, said in a statement.
Prior to the disclosure of the said declaration, both North Korea and Iran were cut off from international commerce due to the American and international sanctions.
“Any deal to buy weaponry from North Korea would be a violation of United Nations resolutions aimed at curbing weapons proliferation from Pyongyang,” the report added.
At the time of writing, it is still “unclear how much the purchasing from North Korea has to do with the export controls, however. There is nothing high-tech in a 152-millimeter artillery shell or a Katyusha-style rocket that North Korea produces,” Frederick W. Kagan, a military expert at the American Enterprise Institute, said.
Meanwhile, a U.S. official confirmed that the recent deal between Russia and North Korea shows that the Moscow is in a desperate situation.
“The only reason the Kremlin should have to buy artillery shells or rockets from North Korea or anyone is because Putin has been unwilling or unable to mobilize the Russian economy for war at even the most basic level,” Mr. Kagan said.
