President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that it was Russia’s business whether or not it decided to use North Korean troops and said that if Ukraine wanted to join NATO then Moscow could do what it wanted to ensure its own security.

The United States said on Wednesday that it had seen evidence that North Korea has sent 3,000 troops to Russia for possible deployment in Ukraine, a move that the West is casting as a significant escalation of the Ukraine war.

Ukraine’s military intelligence service said that the first North Korean units trained in Russia had been deployed in the Kursk region, a Russian border area where Ukrainian forces took a chunk of Russian land in August.

  • FarceOfWill
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    28 days ago

    Russia can stop being at war at any second, if it chooses to

    • hddsx@lemmy.ca
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      28 days ago

      Right, but if chooses too Ukraine will likely join NATO and Russia ends up with another NATO country against its land border.

      The only reason they would withdraw is if they don’t have enough troops - which they are supplementing with North Korean troops. It’s against Russia’s geopolitical interest.

      That and Putin is a crazy guy doing crazy things. Putin may not stop even if it IS in his best interests to do so

      • FarceOfWill
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        28 days ago

        if it annexes Ukraine it it has multiple new NATO countries at its land border.

        The idea of this strategic depth is, ultimately, an excuse. Poland didn’t join NATO because it wanted to be a war torn wreck protecting Germany from suffering if Russia tries to invade.

        The NATO countries bordering Russia aren’t disposable. Bordering super powers is actually fine, if you’re not a psycopath

      • InverseParallax@lemmy.world
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        28 days ago

        Right, but if chooses too Ukraine will likely join NATO and Russia ends up with another NATO country against its land border.

        Invading Ukraine caused 2 more countries on their border to join nato.

        • hddsx@lemmy.ca
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          27 days ago

          I mean, yes, Putin should have never begun the war to begin with. Those countries aren’t going to leave NATO if Russia leaves Ukraine today.

          • InverseParallax@lemmy.world
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            27 days ago

            No, he’s just making literally all of Eastern Europe more united and bloodthirsty to revenge themselves on past Russian aggression.

            The beauty of having Russia as an enemy is that everybody hates them and wants to see them suffer, so, it’s easy to get everyone in line to brutalize them without remorse.

            It’s like when everyone in WW2 turned on the Nazis, and suddenly there was 0 mercy or chance for surrender, it was rip and tear until it was done.

            So many eastern Europeans remember, and now that Russia looks so pathetically weak and broken, they’re seeing their opportunity to drag every ounce of pain and blood from them.

            Honestly, I do feel sorry for Russians. But they brought this on themselves.

            • hddsx@lemmy.ca
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              27 days ago

              Ah, just like Trump united most of the world against him.

              • InverseParallax@lemmy.world
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                27 days ago

                Yeah, actually, he did help, as did W.

                But nothing near like what Russia did to Eastern Europe. Even Afghanistan didn’t have a problem with us compared to the soviets.

                And unlike Russia, we’re not pathetically weak and being shown as so by getting our shit pushed in by a much weaker neighbor.

                See, Russians are paranoid that if they’re ever not perceived as strong, everyone will come for them. Ukraine broke the illusion.

                It’s like Finland in the Winter War, Hitler saw how pathetic Russia was, and invaded. It only worked out because the allies supplied the hell out of them, and even then it was close. China won’t be as stupid.