By Andreas Rinke
BERLIN (Reuters) – The deployment of North Korean troops in Ukraine would be a sign of Russian desperation more than two-and-a-half years into its full-scale invasion of its neighbour, Finland’s President Alexander Stubb told Reuters on Tuesday.
Officials in Ukraine and South Korea have accused North Korea of dispatching troops, estimated to number in the thousands perhaps, to aid Russia in the war in Ukraine.
South Korea’s spy agency said last week that North Korea had shipped 1,500 special forces troops to Russia’s Far East for training and acclimatising at military bases and that they were likely to be deployed for combat in Ukraine.
The Kremlin has declined to directly answer a query on whether North Korean troops were going to fight in Ukraine.
“We’re just seeing how desperate Russia is,” Stubb said during a visit to Berlin. “Its allies are not too many around this world.
“It relies on Iranian weapons, it relies on North Korean soldiers. How much worse can it get?” he said.
The deployment of North Korean troops would constitute an “escalation” of the conflict, said Stubb.
Finland, which shares a 1,340 km (830 mile) border with Russia, joined NATO last year in a historic policy shift brought on by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Stubb, who will make a state visit to China on Oct. 28-31, said he would tell President Xi Jinping there could be no peace deal without Ukraine’s involvement.
He would urge China not to support Russia in any way, “especially not with dual use materials and goods that can be used for weapons.”
(Reporting by Andreas Rinke; Writing by Sarah Marsh; Editing by Ros Russell)