reuters.com
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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.

  • hddsx@lemmy.caEnglish
    62·
    14 hours ago

    NATO maintains that it is a defensive alliance. If NATO starts adding countries Russia is currently at war with, it becomes an offensive alliance.

    That being said, why wasn’t Ukraine added earlier?

    • einkorn@feddit.orgEnglish
      3·
      6 hours ago

      NATO maintains that it is a defensive alliance. If NATO starts adding countries Russia is currently at war with, it becomes an offensive alliance.

      I don’t think so. Ukraine is in a defensive war. Actively joining their side doesn’t turn it into an offensive one. The difference between offensive and defensive conflicts is the goal: In an offensive, you want to gain something. In a defence, it is about keeping what you have. Just because NATO would come to their aid, Ukraine wouldn’t want to conquer Russia.

      That being said, why wasn’t Ukraine added earlier?

      Multiple reasons probably:

      • Ukraine was and to some extent still is a post-soviet state: Oligarchs, corruption and all that comes with it.
      • There was the Budapest Memorandum in place which guaranteed a sovereign Ukrainian state affectively as buffer between Russia and other NATO countries. Which was subsequently broken by Russia in 2014.
      • “Don’t anger the Russians”. See where this got us?
      • hddsx@lemmy.caEnglish
        1·
        5 hours ago

        Man, to drop decorum, I don’t give a shit about the Russians and angering them. I’m just trying not to give Russia a pretext to do something really fucking stupid. Yes, they can perform false flag operations for their own pretext.

        Joining an active war without a prior alliance is an escalation. To keep NATO defensive and not to bring them into an active war, there should be a different agreement signed.

        Hell, NK joining the war is an escalation by both NK and Russia. Does this justify NATO adding Ukraine just for them to immediately invoke article 5? I don’t think so.

        Regardless of ethics and politicking though, someone HAS to be done to show Russia that it can’t just arbitrarily annex parts of other countries.

    • FarceOfWillEnglish
      1·
      6 hours ago

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

      • hddsx@lemmy.caEnglish
        11·
        6 hours 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

        • FarceOfWillEnglish
          1·
          3 hours 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