Vladimir Putin hails North Korea’s support for Ukraine war ahead of Pyongyang visit

Vladimir Putin hails North Korea’s support for Ukraine war ahead of Pyongyang visit
Vladimir Putin’s North Korea visit shows bilateral ties are getting stronger day by day, the official Korean Central News Agency reported. (AFP)
Short Url
Updated 18 June 2024
Follow

Vladimir Putin hails North Korea’s support for Ukraine war ahead of Pyongyang visit

Vladimir Putin hails North Korea’s support for Ukraine war ahead of Pyongyang visit
  • Russian leader scheduled to touch down on Tuesday night for his first trip to the isolated nation in 24 years
  • Moscow and Pyongyang have been allies since North Korea’s founding after World War II

SEOUL: Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed North Korea on Tuesday for “firmly supporting” Moscow’s war in Ukraine ahead of a visit to Pyongyang set to boost defense ties between the two nuclear-armed countries.
Putin is scheduled to touch down on Tuesday night for his first trip to the isolated nation in 24 years, with a confrontation between North and South Korean troops on their shared border highlighting regional security tensions.
Huge banners with a smiling photograph of the Russian leader reading “we ardently welcome President Putin!” were hung from lamp-posts across Pyongyang alongside Russian flags, images in Russian state media showed.
Moscow and Pyongyang have been allies since North Korea’s founding after World War II and have drawn even closer since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 led to the West isolating Putin internationally.
The United States and its allies have accused North Korea of supplying Russia with much-needed arms, including ballistic missiles to use in Ukraine.
The North has denied giving Russia military hardware but, ahead of his trip, Putin thanked Kim Jong Un’s government for helping the war effort.
“We highly appreciate that the DPRK (North Korea) is firmly supporting the special military operations of Russia being conducted in Ukraine,” Putin wrote in an article published by Pyongyang’s state media on Tuesday.
Russia and the North are “now actively developing the many-sided partnership,” Putin wrote.
Both countries are under rafts of UN sanctions — Pyongyang since 2006 over banned nuclear and ballistic missile programs and Moscow over the invasion of Ukraine.
Putin praised North Korea for “defending their interests very effectively despite the US economic pressure, provocation, blackmail and military threats that have lasted for decades.”
He also hailed Moscow and Pyongyang for “maintaining the common line and stand at the UN.”
North Korea said the visit showed bilateral ties “are getting stronger day by day,” the official Korean Central News Agency reported, and would “give fresh vitality to the development of the good-neighborly cooperative relations between the two countries.”
North Korea has described allegations of supplying weapons to Russia as “absurd.”
However, it did thank Russia for using its UN veto in March to effectively end monitoring of sanctions violations just as UN experts were starting to probe alleged arms transfers.
The United States voiced “concern” on Monday about the trip because of the security implications for South Korea as well as Ukraine.
The two Koreas have remained technically at war since their 1950-53 conflict and the border dividing them is one of the most heavily fortified in the world.
“We know North Korean ballistic missiles are still being used to hit Ukrainian targets (and) there could be some reciprocity here that could affect security on the Korean peninsula,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
Highlighting those security concerns, South Korea said its troops fired at soldiers from the North who briefly crossed the border on Tuesday then retreated.
The South’s military said it believed the North Korean soldiers accidentally crossed as they were fortifying the border, but said some of them were wounded after detonating land mines.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Putin’s trip showed how he was “dependent” on authoritarian leaders.
“Their closest friends and the biggest supporters of the Russian war effort — war of aggression — (are) North Korea, Iran and China,” Stoltenberg said.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged the international community to counter “the lonely bromance” between Putin and Kim by increasing arms supplies to Kyiv.
“The best way to respond to it is to continue strengthening the diplomatic coalition for just and lasting peace in Ukraine and delivering more Patriots and ammunition to Ukraine,” Kuleba said.
North Korea is eager for high-end military technology to advance its nuclear, missile, satellite and nuclear-powered submarine programs, according to experts.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said the two leaders would possibly sign a “comprehensive strategic partnership treaty” to outline cooperation on “security issues,” state-run Russian news agencies reported.
North Korea could promise “to provide Russia with continuing supplies of artillery, guided rockets for multiple rocket launchers, and short-range missiles to support Russia’s operations in Ukraine,” Bruce Bennett, senior defense analyst at RAND Corporation, told Yonhap.
In return, it will want “Russia to provide a variety of advanced technologies,” he said, plus “a substantial flow of Russian oil and food products along with hard currency payments.”


Niger’s military to hold ‘national convention’ on transition charter

Niger, along with its neighbors Burkina Faso and Mali, has for over a decade battled an insurgency fought by militant groups.
Niger, along with its neighbors Burkina Faso and Mali, has for over a decade battled an insurgency fought by militant groups.
Updated 09 February 2025
Follow

Niger’s military to hold ‘national convention’ on transition charter

Niger, along with its neighbors Burkina Faso and Mali, has for over a decade battled an insurgency fought by militant groups.
  • Sahel country is one of several nations in the region where army has seized power

NIAMEY: Niger’s military regime will organize a “national convention” from Feb. 15 to 19, notably intended to set the duration of the transition period that began with the 2023 overthrow of civilian President Mohamed Bazoum, the Interior Ministry said.

The ministry unveiled the dates in a press release broadcast on state television, adding that the gathering would take place in the capital Niamey.
In August 2023, shortly after taking power in a coup, General Abdourahamane Tiani announced the organization of an “inclusive national dialogue” to outline the priority areas of governance and lay down the duration of the transition.
At the time, he mentioned a maximum duration of three years, but he has not addressed the issue since.
Early last year consultations were held across the country’s eight regions to lay out a working basis for next week’s meetings, with a national commission also created by presidential decree to oversee the work of the four-day conference set to produce a “preliminary draft of the transition charter.”
Following the gathering there will be a three-week period in which to draft a “final report” to General Tiani.
The commission, headed by Mamoudou Harouna Djingareye, a traditional leader, also comprises former ministers, academics, lawyers, soldiers, advisers to General Tiani, religious leaders and figures drawn from civil society.
It is made up of five sub-committees whose themes are “peace, security, national reconciliation and social cohesion,” “political and institutional overhaul” and “justice and human rights.”
Niger is one of several countries in Africa’s Sahel region where the military has seized power in coups in recent years, amid persistent attacks by insurgencies.
A few days earlier, armed assailants in the country killed at least 10 soldiers in an ambush on a military unit that had been sent to hunt cattle rustlers in a border region near Burkina Faso.
The military unit was deployed to catch criminals who had been stealing the cattle in the western village of Takzat, the military said in a statement broadcast Wednesday night.
“It was during the operation that a group of criminals ambushed the detachment of the internal security forces which resulted in the loss of 10 of our soldiers,” the statement said. It did not identify the attackers.
The attackers managed to flee, but the military caught and neutralized 15 “terrorists” on Tuesday, the statement added.
Niger, along with its neighbors Burkina Faso and Mali, has for over a decade battled an insurgency fought by militant groups, including some allied with Al-Qaeda and Daesh.
Following military coups in all three nations in recent years, the ruling juntas have expelled French forces and turned to Russia’s mercenary units for security assistance. The three countries have vowed to strengthen their cooperation by establishing a new security alliance, the Alliance of Sahel States.
But the security situation in the Sahel, a vast region on the fringes of the Sahara Desert, has significantly worsened since the juntas took power, analysts say, with a record number of attacks and civilians killed both by militants and government forces.

 


25 civilians killed in an attack by gunmen in Mali

Troops of the Malian army patrol the ancient town of Djenne in central Mali on February 28, 2020. (AFP)
Troops of the Malian army patrol the ancient town of Djenne in central Mali on February 28, 2020. (AFP)
Updated 09 February 2025
Follow

25 civilians killed in an attack by gunmen in Mali

Troops of the Malian army patrol the ancient town of Djenne in central Mali on February 28, 2020. (AFP)
  • The military seized power in 2020, capitalizing on the unpopularity of the former democratically elected government, but the new rulers have struggled with deadly militant attacks

BAMAKO: Gunmen have attacked a convoy of vehicles escorted by Mali’s army, killing 25 civilians mostly gold miners, a military spokesman said Sunday.
The attack took place Friday about 30 kilometers from Gao, the largest city in the country’s northeast where armed groups hostile to the ruling junta operate. It was the deadliest attack on civilians this year.
The assailants targeted a convoy of some 60 vehicles escorted by the army, military spokesman Col. Maj. Souleymane Dembele said. He said soldiers assisted the victims and transferred 13 wounded to the Gao hospital.
He said four of the attackers were wounded and declined to comment on any army casualties.
“My sister survived the attack, but she’s in a state of mental shock. She saw a lot of dead and wounded, a whole scene of horror. It was the first time she had seen dead people,” said a Gao resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity for his own safety.
Several groups operate in the area, including Daesh, the Al-Qaeda-linked JNIM, and others from the Azawad region hostile to Mali’s military regime.
Mali has been in a crisis for more than 10 years.
The military seized power in 2020, capitalizing on the unpopularity of the former democratically elected government, but the new rulers have struggled with deadly militant attacks.

 


Namibia’s ‘founding father’ Sam Nujoma dies aged 95

Namibia’s ‘founding father’ Sam Nujoma dies aged 95
Updated 09 February 2025
Follow

Namibia’s ‘founding father’ Sam Nujoma dies aged 95

Namibia’s ‘founding father’ Sam Nujoma dies aged 95
  • The presidency said Nujoma had been hospitalized for medical treatment over the past three weeks, adding: “Unfortunately, this time, the most gallant son of our land could not recover from his illness”

WINDHOEK: Sam Nujoma, the activist and guerrilla leader who became Namibia’s first democratically elected president after it won its independence from apartheid South Africa, died aged 95 on Saturday, the Namibian Presidency said on Sunday. Nujoma rose to head the thinly populated southern African country on March 21, 1990 and was formally recognized as “Founding Father of the Namibian Nation” through a 2005 act of parliament.
The acclaim was balanced out by domestic and international criticism over his intolerance of critical media coverage.
He was a longtime ally of Zimbabwean strongman Robert Mugabe, backing Mugabe’s land seizures from white farmers, though at home Nujoma stuck to a “willing buyer, willing seller” policy.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Nujoma rose to head the thinly populated southern African country on March 21, 1990 and was formally recognized as ‘Founding Father of the Namibian Nation.’

• He was a longtime ally of Zimbabwean strongman Robert Mugabe, backing Mugabe’s land seizures from white farmers.

“The foundations of the Republic of Namibia have been shaken,” the presidency posted on X.
“Our venerable leader, Dr. Nujoma did not only blaze the trail to freedom – but he also inspired us to rise to our feet and to become masters of this vast land of our ancestors.”
The presidency said Nujoma had been hospitalized for medical treatment over the past three weeks, adding: “Unfortunately, this time, the most gallant son of our land could not recover from his illness.”
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa said Nujoma’s leadership of a free Namibia laid the foundation for the solidarity and partnership the two countries share today, “a partnership we will continue to deepen as neighbors and friends.”
“Dr. Sam Nujoma was an extraordinary freedom fighter who divided his revolutionary program between Namibia’s own struggle against South African colonialism and the liberation of South Africa from apartheid,” he said in a statement.
African Union Commission Chair Moussa Faki Mahamat hailed Nujoma as one of the continent’s “most illustrious revolutionary leaders” and “the epitome of courage.”

 


Russia claims east Ukraine village near strategic town

Russia claims east Ukraine village near strategic town
Updated 09 February 2025
Follow

Russia claims east Ukraine village near strategic town

Russia claims east Ukraine village near strategic town
  • Trump says he held talks with Putin to end the war

MOSCOW: Russia said Sunday that its forces had captured the eastern Ukrainian village of Orikhovo-Vasylivka, near the strategic military hub of Chasiv Yar that Moscow is attempting to seize.

There is intensive fighting in the frontline town of Chasiv Yar, one of the last remaining urban areas blocking Russia from advancing further into the region, according to Russian military bloggers.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a daily briefing that “as a result of decisive attack actions, the South group of troops liberated the settlement of Orekhovo-Vasilevka in the Donetsk region,” using the Russian name for the village.
Orikhovo-Vasylivka is located around 10 kilometers north of Chasiv Yar and near the road to the Ukraine-held city of Sloviansk.
The latest advance comes as Russian troops are pushing further into the Donetsk region. They claimed the key mining town of Toretsk on Friday, while Ukraine denies Moscow troops are in full control there. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said he has spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone about ending the war in Ukraine, the New York Post reported, the first known direct conversation between Putin and a US president since early 2022.
Trump, who has promised to end the war in Ukraine but not yet set out in public how he would do so, said last week that the war was a bloodbath and that his team had had “some very good talks.”
In an interview aboard Air Force One on Friday, Trump told the New York Post that he had “better not say,” when asked how many times he and Putin had spoken.
“He (Putin) wants to see people stop dying,” Trump told the New York Post.  Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the TASS state news agency that “many different communications are emerging.”
“These communications are conducted through different channels,” Peskov said when asked by TASS to comment directly on the New York Post report. “I personally may not know something, be unaware of something. Therefore, in this case, I can neither confirm nor deny it.”

 


US President Trump expects Elon Musk to find billions in Pentagon waste

US President Trump expects Elon Musk to find billions in Pentagon waste
Updated 09 February 2025
Follow

US President Trump expects Elon Musk to find billions in Pentagon waste

US President Trump expects Elon Musk to find billions in Pentagon waste
  • Elon Musk is a special government employee
  • President Trump tasked him to slash the size of the US federal workforce

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said he expects Elon Musk to find billions of dollars of fraud and abuse at the Pentagon during an audit that the billionaire will lead.
“I’m going to tell him very soon, like maybe in 24 hours, to go check the Department of Education. ... Then I’m going to go, go to the military. Let’s check the military,” Trump said in a Super Bowl interview with Fox News’ Brett Baier, an excerpt of which was aired on Sunday morning.
“We’re going to find billions, hundreds of millions of dollars of fraud and abuse,” Trump said of the largest federal department.
The Pentagon’s budget is approaching $1 trillion per year. In December, then-President Joe Biden signed a bill authorizing $895 billion in defense spending for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30.
Musk, who the White House says is a special government employee, has been tasked by Trump to lead an effort to slash the size of the US federal workforce. As part of that initiative, Musk aides have sought access to confidential information in computer systems at various government agencies.
Critics say the efforts are likely illegal, risk exposing classified information and in practice are gutting entire agencies without congressional approval.
National Security Adviser Mike Waltz suggested in a separate interview on Sunday that the Pentagon’s shipbuilding processes could be an area of particular interest for the Department of Government Efficiency, and he characterized the Pentagon in general as full of unnecessary bloat.
“Everything there seems to cost too much, take too long and deliver too little to the soldiers... We do need business leaders to go in there and absolutely reform the Pentagon’s acquisition process,” Waltz said in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“There is plenty to look into in shipbuilding, which is an absolute mess,” Waltz added.
Leaders from across the political spectrum have long criticized waste and inefficiency at the Pentagon. But Democrats and civil service unions say Musk’ Department of Government Efficiency lacks the expertise to restructure the Pentagon, and their efforts risk exposing classified programs.
Musk’s companies also hold major contracts with the Pentagon, which has raised significant conflict of interest concerns.