Hundreds of North Korean troops have been filmed at military bases in Russia’s far east, training ahead of what Kyiv and its western allies say is a deployment to fight in Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine.
Disguised as Buryats and Yakuts, ethnic minorities from Siberia who have made up a disproportionate share of Moscow’s forces, the North Korean troops are part of a 12,000-strong force sent to help Russia retake the Kursk region, partly held by Ukraine since August, according to video footage published by the South Korean intelligence service.
The contingent marks the first foreign army deployment in the war since Russia’s president ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, though Moscow also turned to allies, including North Korea and Iran, for weapons in response to western military support for Ukraine.