Alliance maintenance: Putin to visit North Korea as Biden reassures Ukraine coalition

The Kremlin confirmed Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to North Korea in the coming weeks, reciprocating a high-profile visit by Kim Jong-un last month and setting off alarm bells in the U.S. and South Korea.

Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a press briefing that the dates for the Pyongyang visit will likely be nailed down when Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visits the North Korean capital this month.

Mr. Putin “is not yet going to North Korea. He has an invitation and he accepted it with gratitude,” Mr. Peskov said, according to a report by the Tass news agency.

President Biden was doing some alliance maintenance of his own, reassuring NATO leaders and major allies that U.S. support for Ukraine in its war with Russia remained strong despite the failure of Congress to include a $24 billion aid package to Kyiv in the stopgap spending law.

Mr. Biden was joined on the call by leaders from Britain, Canada, France, the European Union, Germany, Italy, Japan, Poland and Romania. A leader from NATO was on the call as well, according to the White House.

But even as Mr. Biden was offering reassurance, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby was urging Congress to approve the new money quickly, warning that “time is not our friend.”

“A lapse in support for even a short period of time could make all the difference on the battlefield, just as critically such a lapse in support will make Putin believe that he can wait us out and that he can continue the conflict until we and our allies and partners fold,” Mr. Kirby told reporters Tuesday.

He blamed a “small minority” of congressional Republicans for delaying the Ukraine aid package.

Mr. Putin, who has made no foreign trips this year beyond visits to Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine, has already announced plans to visit China this month to attend a conference on President Xi Jinping’s One Belt/One Road global financing program.

Mr. Kim, who also rarely ventures beyond his borders, met with Mr. Putin at a spaceport in Russia’s Far East region as part of an unusually lengthy five-day visit that included inspection tours of Russian strategic bombers, hypersonic missiles and warships.

The Biden administration this week expressed renewed concerns that the burgeoning North Korean-Russian alliance could include expanded shipments of North Korean artillery and other military equipment to bolster Mr. Putin’s struggling forces in Ukraine.

“We continue to be concerned about increased ties between Russia and North Korea, especially as it comes to any potential transfer of weapons either from [North Korea] to Russia or from Russia to [North Korea],” State Department spokesman Matt Miller said in a briefing Monday.

One place Mr. Putin will likely not be visiting is San Francisco, where Mr. Biden next month will host the annual meeting of leaders of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.

Mr. Putin has limited his foreign travels in part because he faces a war-crimes indictment from the International Criminal Court over the actions of invading Russian forces in Ukraine.

Russia is an APEC member and Mr. Miller did not directly address reports that the Biden administration has told the Kremlin that Mr. Putin will not be invited.

But he left little doubt the Russian leader should not bother clearing his calendar and packing his bags.

“He is not going to be in San Francisco in November,” Mr. Miller said. “I think we can all be pretty clear about that.”