Defence ministers from Germany and the United Kingdom on Wednesday signalled their concern over reports of North Korean troops being sent to Russia ahead of a potential deployment in Ukraine.
Germany’s Boris Pistorius, on a visit to London to sign a landmark bilateral defence pact, said the participation of Pyongyang’s forces in Russia’s war would represent “a kind of escalation.”
“I’m quite concerned about the development,” he added.
His counterpart John Healey said the ministers “both totally condemn this as a potential escalation.”
However, he stated that while “it looks highly likely that North Korean troops have been deployed into Russia, it was “certainly not clear yet that they’ve been deployed to the battlefront.”
Healey also called the move a “sign of desperation” for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
