Russia is seeking to broker a new deal with North Korea to purchase additional weapons in exchange for food as it seeks to aid its ongoing offensive against Ukraine, the U.S. said Thursday.
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said the over year-long war has "forced" Russia to turn "to rogue regimes to try to obtain weapons and equipment to support its military operations" in Ukraine.
"That's in part because of the sweeping sanctions and export controls that we've imposed," he told reporters on a virtual briefing. "We remain concerned that North Korea will provide further support to Russia's military operations against Ukraine. And we have new information that Russia is actively seeking to acquire additional munitions from North Korea."
If confirmed, the effort to procure weapons from Pyongyang would mark the second such time Russia or its proxies have sought munitions from the hermit kingdom. North Korea previously supplied Russia's Wagner Group, a private military corporation closely aligned with the Kremlin, with infantry rockets and missiles in late 2022, according to U.S. intelligence.
The "proposed deal" would see Russia receive over two dozen kinds of weapons and munitions from North Korea, and Moscow is planning to send a delegation to North Korea that will offer the leadership there food in exchange for the weapons, according to the White House.
Kirby said "any arms deal between North Korea and Russia would directly violate" several UN Security Council resolutions, and said the U.S. has "taken note of North Korea's recent statements that they will not provide or sell arms to Russia and we are continuing to monitor this closely."
Ashot Mkrtychev, a just-sanctioned Slovakian arms dealer, has been the point-man on the arms deal for Russia. He was designated by the Treasury Department earlier on Thursday for working on Russia's behalf on a series of deals from the end of 2022 through early 2023.
"Mkrtychev's negotiations with DPRK and Russian officials detailed mutually beneficial cooperation between North Korea and Russia to include financial payments and barter arrangements. He confirmed Russia's readiness to receive military equipment from the DPRK with senior Russian officials," the department said in a statement.
