BRISBANE: Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday (Jul 28) said that the United States believes Russia’s defence minister is in North Korea to secure supplies of weapons to aid the stalled invasion of Ukraine.
Following Sergei Shoigu’s arrival on a rare trip to Pyongyang, Blinken said that Russia is scrambling to buy arms from allies across the world.
“I strongly doubt he’s there on holiday,” Blinken told reporters in Australia.
“We’re seeing Russia desperately looking for support, for weapons, wherever it can find them to continue to prosecute its aggression against Ukraine,” he said.
“We see that in North Korea, we see that as well with Iran, which has provided many drones to Russia that it’s using to destroy civilian infrastructure and killed civilians in Ukraine.”
Russia, a historic ally of North Korea, is one of a handful of nations with which Pyongyang maintains friendly relations.