Explaining: military alliance between Russia and N. Korea, meeting of Russia and Belarus Council of Ministers

MILITARY ALLIANCE BETWEEN RUSSIA AND NORTH KOREA

According to Ukrainian intelligence services, there are already 11,000 soldiers from North Korea in the Kursk region.

● In exchange for the soldiers, Pyongyang will receive up to 700,000 tonnes of rice per year from Moscow, as well as space and, possibly, military technologies.

● The involvement of North Korean soldiers in the war against Ukraine is a significant act of escalation by Russia and the de facto internationalization of the war.

● The world's reaction to the military alliance between Moscow and Pyongyang is insufficient, encouraging Putin and Kim Jong Un to pursue further aggressive actions.

● Russia also plans to sign an agreement on “comprehensive cooperation” with Iran, which is already a de facto accomplice in Russia's aggression against Ukraine.

● Strengthening military and political support for Ukraine will be a proportional response to the threat posed by the Moscow-Pyongyang alliance.

MEETING OF THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS OF RUSSIA AND BELARUS

On November 5, a meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Union States of Russia and Belarus will occur in Minsk.

● The Union State is yet another stillborn project of the Kremlin, which since 1999 has failed to lead to the planned political unification of Russia and Belarus.

● Moscow sees the Union State as a mechanism for the final destruction of Belarus' sovereignty with a view to its complete absorption.

● The military cooperation between Moscow and Minsk poses a threat to Ukraine as well as to the entire Europe.

● Russia's use of Belarusian territory for attacks on Ukraine has made Lukashenko an accomplice in Putin's crimes.

● Russia's deployment of nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory is a provocation by the Kremlin that undermines the foundations of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons