A Russian Defense Ministry plane made a mysterious flight to the DPRK

An Il-62M aircraft from the Russian Ministry of Defense made an unannounced flight to the North Korean capital Pyongyang a few days after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un completed his visit to Russia. Experts admit that this flight indicates that Russia and Korea are preparing a more serious deal than just purchasing weapons.

Details . The plane with tail number RA-86559 took off for Pyongyang on September 25, according to data from the Flightradar24 service. And on September 27 he returned to Moscow. This flight was not announced by either the Russian or North Korean sides. The same plane flew to Pyongyang in early August, a few days after Sergei Shoigu visited the North Korean capital.

• The NK News website, which specializes in news from the DPRK, names several possible reasons for the flight: a trip by Russian military officials, preparations for a visit to the DPRK by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (planned for October) or Vladimir Putin.
• As Bloomberg recalls, North Korea closed air traffic with other countries after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and has not opened it since then. In this situation, two trips by the Russian delegation to the country within a few weeks could demonstrate a serious rapprochement between the two countries.
• North Korea may want to obtain dual-use technologies that could be transferred under the guise of assistance to space and nuclear programs in accordance with international standards, writes NK News. At the same time, transferring technologies to Pyongyang that can be used to create missiles and nuclear bombs will violate UN Security Council resolutions.
• “To what extent Russia is ready to circumvent UN Security Council resolutions is another big question. Russia and North Korea's public demonstration of their willingness to strengthen military ties may, in part, suggest that there is more to come, and it won't all necessarily happen behind closed doors,” said Jewoo Shin, an analyst at the Open Nuclear Network.
• Bloomberg journalists sent a request to the Russian Ministry of Defense, but did not receive a response.

Context . In mid-September, Kim Jong-un came to Russia. During the visit, he inspected the Vostochny cosmodrome, Russian military aircraft, the civilian SJ-100, as well as the modernized frigate Marshall Shaposhnikov, and met with Vladimir Putin. Judging by media reports and foreign intelligence data, the two leaders could have discussed, among other things, the purchase of weapons from the DPRK.

• Before Putin, Sergei Shoigu visited North Korea. During the visit, he inspected various types of weapons, including ballistic missiles, wrote Reuters . American intelligence believes that Shoigu traveled to the DPRK to agree on expanding military cooperation between the countries.