The NATO-phile Atlantic Council has accused North Korea of suppling short-range ballistic missiles to Russia. “Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, North Korea has become one of Russia’s most direct and consequential backers, providing troops, missiles, ammunition, specialist military personnel, and labor,” it claims in an article published on Aug. 25. “In exchange, Pyongyang has received hard currency, energy supplies, and military technologies worth at least $14 billion over the past three years.”
Russia and North Korea do, indeed, have a very close military relationship, but the Atlantic Council is using that to argue for the U.S. and Europe to further escalate the war against Russia. Not only should the U.S. and NATO continue to provide so-called defensive weapons to Ukraine, but they “should provide the intelligence and long-range systems Kyiv needs to target missile launch sites and North Korean deployments in Russia. Options could include German Taurus or US Tomahawk missiles. That would be a more credible answer to Moscow’s latest escalation than asking Kyiv to absorb more strikes while waiting for scarce interceptors.” The Council also calls on Starlink to enable the use of its services for targeting inside Russia “to support Kyiv’s long-range campaign.”
