Russian President Vladimir Putin gifted North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a Russian-made car for his personal use in a demonstration of their “special personal relationships.”
A report confirming the gift does not say what type of vehicle Putin gave the North Korean dictator or how it was shipped.
But observers said it could violate a U.N. resolution banning the supply of luxury goods to North Korea in a bid to pressure the country to give up its nuclear weapons.
Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, and another North Korean official accepted the gift on Sunday, and she conveyed her brother’s gratitude to Putin, the Korean Central News Agency said.
Kim Yo Jong said the gift showed the special personal relationship between the leaders, according to the report.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has gifted North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a Russian-made car for his personal use in a demonstration of their “special relationship”
North Korea and Russia have significantly increased their cooperation since Kim traveled to Russia last September for a summit with Putin.
During Kim’s visit to Russia’s main spaceport, Putin showed the North Korean leader his personal Anrus Senat limousine and Kim sat in the back seat.
According to Russian state news agency Tass, Aurus was the first Russian luxury car brand and has been used in the motorcades of senior officials, including Putin, since he first used an Anrus limousine during his inauguration ceremony in 2018.
Kim, 40, is known to own many foreign-made luxury cars that are believed to have been smuggled into his country in violation of the UN resolution.
During his visit to Russia, he traveled between meeting places in a Maybach limousine that he carried with him in one of his special train cars.
During a previous trip to Russia in 2019, Kim had two limousines waiting for him at Vladivostok station: a Mercedes Maybach S600 Pullman Guard and a Mercedes Maybach S62.
He also reportedly used the S600 Pullman Guard for his two summits with then-President Donald Trump in Singapore in 2018 and Vietnam in 2019.
In 2018, Kim used a black Mercedes limousine to return home after a meeting with then-South Korean President Moon Jae-in at a shared Korean border village.
A report confirming the gift does not say what type of vehicle Putin gave the North Korean dictator or how it was shipped.
Observers said it could violate a U.N. resolution banning the supply of luxury goods to North Korea in a bid to pressure the country to give up its nuclear weapons.
During Kim’s visit to Russia’s main spaceport, Putin showed the North Korean leader his personal Anrus Senat limousine and Kim sat in the back seat.
Kim’s possession of such expensive foreign limousines shows the porosity of international sanctions against the North.
Russia voted in favor of banning the supply of luxury goods to North Korea, although as a permanent member of the Security Council it could have vetoed the resolution.
The growing ties between North Korea and Russia come as they are locked in separate confrontations with the United States and its allies: North Korea over its advanced nuclear program and Russia over its protracted war with Ukraine.
Late last week, a group of lawmakers warned the State Department about arms transfers between North Korea and Russia.
The letter, led by Republican Reps. Young Kim of California, Tom Kean of New Jersey, Joe Wilson of South Carolina, and Nathaniel Moran of Texas, asks the Biden administration for answers about whether Korean arms sales North to Russia could mean that Moscow is helping Pyongyang in its quest for advanced nuclear and ballistic weapons.
It comes after the Democratic Republic of North Korea (DPRK) agreed to sell weapons to Russia, which has since used Korean ballistic missiles to bomb Ukraine. Since then, the DPRK has also offered ammunition and artillery shells.
The United Nations has warned that North Korea is seeking military assistance from Russia, with nuclear weapons, in response. Russia has been part of the UN National Security Council’s imposition of an arms embargo on Pyongyang for its missile test since 2006, but is now violating the embargo.
The United States, South Korea and their partners accuse North Korea to send conventional weapons to Russia for its war in Ukraine, in exchange for high-tech Russian weapons technologies and other support.
After his foreign minister returned home from a Russian visit in January, North Korean state media reported that Putin expressed his willingness to visit the North at an early date.
Russian President Putin has greatly influenced the news cycle in the United States and around the world in recent weeks.
Many people across the country have been outraged when it was reported that Alexei Navalny, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest enemy, died in prison on Friday, according to Russia’s prison agency.
The Federal Penitentiary Service said in a statement that Navalny, 47, felt unwell after a walk and “almost immediately lost consciousness.” Paramedics reportedly came to try to rehabilitate him without success.
Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny and his wife Yulia Navalnaya in September 2020
Lyudmila Navalnaya, mother of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, and lawyer Vasily Dubkov arrive at the regional department of the Russian Investigative Committee in the town of Salekhard in the Yamal-Nenets region, Russia, February 17, 2024 .
His mother said she had seen her son in the prison colony on Monday. At that time, she said: “He was alive, healthy, happy.”
Navalny, serving a 19-year sentence on “extremism” charges, had recently been moved from his former prison in central Russia’s Vladimir region to a chilling “special regime” penal colony above the Arctic Circle.
His allies, a brave minority in Russia fighting corruption, said at the time that they feared for his life after he “disappeared” in December to travel to the remote region known for its long, harsh winters, just months before the closely followed Russian presidential elections. elections next month.
Navalny’s allies say they were denied the opportunity to see the body, which would remain in the hands of authorities until the investigation was completed.
Navalny’s lawyer, who arrived in the city of Salekhard with Navalny’s mother on Saturday, was allegedly told by the prison that the body was being held in the morgue.
A contact at the Salekhard morgue later denied the body was there, leaving even more question marks surrounding the shocking death of one of Putin’s fiercest critics.
“It is obvious that the murderers want to cover their tracks and that is why they do not hand over Alexei’s body, hiding it even from his mother,” his team said in a post on Telegram.
Former President Donald Trump made a comment on Navalny’s death and used the occasion to criticize “extremely unfair” judicial decisions in the United States.
President Joe Biden squarely blamed Putin for Navalny’s death, though he froze when he tried to articulate an attack on former President Donald Trump for his recent comments about Russia.
Vladimir Putin has declared that he would rather see Joe Biden win a second term in the White House than Donald Trump in a surprising interview with Russian media this morning.
Russian President Vladimir Putin now says he believes he prefers Joe Biden to remain president of the United States.
It also comes as Putin has declared he would rather see Joe Biden win a second term in the White House than Donald Trump in a stunning interview with Russian media.
Describing the current US president as “predictable”, Putin said Biden would be the Kremlin’s preferred choice because it sees him as more assertive than the firebrand and outspoken Republican.
“Biden is more experienced, he is more predictable, he is a politician of the old formation… But we will work with any American leader whom the American people trust,” Putin said.
Asked about speculation about Biden’s health problems, Putin responded: “I am not a doctor and I do not consider it appropriate to comment on that,” before defending the US president, who has faced increased scrutiny lately. because of his age and his declining memory.