The Kremlin is actively working to increase the number of North Korean labor migrants in Russia - with the aim of supporting the Russian workforce and possibly attracting some of these migrants to the ranks of the Russian army, News.bg reports.
This is stated in an analysis by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
On June 7, the head of the Ukrainian Main Military Intelligence (GUR), Lieutenant General Kirill Budanov, reported that during his recent visit to North Korea, the Secretary of the Russian Security Council, Sergei Shoigu, agreed to assist in attracting more North Korean workers to Russia.
This agreement is a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2397, which Russia also signed. According to this resolution, North Korea is not allowed to send its citizens to work abroad, and all UN member states are obliged to expel North Korean citizens who receive income outside the country by December 2019.
In March 2024 Russia vetoed an annual Security Council resolution to extend the mandate of a monitoring group monitoring compliance with sanctions against North Korea.
Budanov noted that Russia is likely looking for North Korean workers to replace migrants from Central Asia. He also indicated that many of these North Koreans are likely to sign contracts with the Russian Defense Ministry.
In February 2025 ISW reported that Moscow is creating opportunities for North Korean migrants to arrive in Russia, with the aim of joining the labor market or directly into the army.
At the same time, the Kremlin and Pyongyang are openly strengthening their defense cooperation - including through mutual defense treaties, transfers of military technology and materials, and the deployment of North Korean military units to fight alongside Russian forces in the Kursk region.
Russia and North Korea appear to be seeking to establish covert channels for integrating North Korean citizens into the Russian military recruitment system.
At the same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin is changing his rhetoric - maneuvering between ethnic nationalism and multinationalism, but continuing to support anti-Western propaganda and the processes of militarization of Russian youth.
On June 10, Putin held a meeting with the Russian Security Council, the main emphasis of which was national unification and the use of of military-patriotic programs and state initiatives to educate the younger generation in the spirit of patriotism.
The President highlighted the role of the "Movement of the Firsts" movement - aimed at military-patriotic education both in Russia and in the occupied Ukrainian territories - and the "Yunarmiya" (Youth Army) organization, whose goal is to instill pro-war sentiments among children and teenagers. He also emphasized the mandatory weekly lessons in Russian schools, which often include lectures by participants in the war in Ukraine.
Organizations such as BRICS, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), dominated by Russia, continue to be presented by the Kremlin as the basis of a new, anti-Western and anti-NATO Eurasian security architecture.