Putin threatens to supply precision weapons to North Korea in response to the provision of Western weapons to Ukraine
He said the use of Western weapons to strike Belgorod would be investigated as an "act of aggression"
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has not ruled out supplying precision weapons to North Korea in response to Western military aid to Ukraine.
"Those who supply these weapons (western-made precision weapons – ed.) believe that they are not at war with us, but I said, including in Pyongyang, that we then reserve the right to supply weapons to other regions of the world, having our agreements with the DPRK, and I do not rule this out," Interfax quoted Putin as saying.
According to him, Western countries supply weapons to Ukraine, and then Kyiv uses them at its own discretion.
"And we can also say that we have supplied something to someone, and then we have no control over it," the Kremlin dictator said.
He added that the use of Western weapons to strike Belgorod will be investigated, but it is close to an act of aggression, and Russia must repel such attacks.
During Putin's visit to the DPRK, the two heads of state signed a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement. According to Putin, a clause on mutual assistance in case of war was included in the agreement, which was signed following talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
According to South Korean intelligence, the DPRK is already supplying weapons to the Kremlin after Putin turned to Pyongyang for help in the summer of 2022 amid a series of Russian army failures in Ukraine.
Nearly 5 million artillery shells and ballistic missiles have been sent to Russia from North Korea, and Moscow has responded by supplying Pyongyang with tanks, aircraft and technology for its spy satellite programme, South Korean Defence Minister Sin Won-sik told Bloomberg.
In early June, Putin said that Russia could supply its long-range weapons to those regions of the world from which it could launch "sensitive strikes" against countries that supply weapons to Ukraine. He stressed that "the response could be asymmetrical".
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