Russia and North Korea have agreed to offer mutual assistance in the event one of them is attacked.
Topline
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin inked a deal Wednesday agreeing to aid each other in the event of an attack on either country, signaling the growing closeness between the two leaders as their regimes battle a bevy of international sanctions.Key Facts
Putin said the so-called comprehensive strategic partnership treaty provides “among other things, for mutual assistance in the event of aggression against one of the parties to this treaty,” the Russian state-run agency TASS reported.
The Russian leader compared the agreement with efforts by the U.S. and other NATO nations to send long-range weapons and F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine to carry out strikes on Russian territory—and claimed those actions were a “gross violation” of various international obligations.
The treaty calls for cooperation between the two countries in the “political, trade, investment, cultural, humanitarian and security spheres,” however, Putin refused to rule out potential military-technical cooperation with North Korea.
The Russian president also demanded a review of UN Security Council sanctions against North Korea, which technically prevent weapons transfers between the two countries.
