Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to North Korea caused ridiculed by many because a leader who wanted to be a world ruler went to beg for weapons from another country.
A lavish welcome was organized for Putin in Pyongyang, and right from the airport, the North Korean authorities made sure the Russian felt important. However, the footage of the two dictators from a moving limousine caused ridicule among experts, writes focus.de.
Economic expert Konstantin Sonin, who teaches at the University of Chicago and is an expert on Russian affairs, wrote on the social network X that this was a deeply disturbing shot. “In his bubble, Putin is clearly not aware of what he looks like, asking the absurdly pathetic regime for military aid against Ukraine,”, he said.
I cannot imagine a future Russia, in which this is not a deeply embarrassing photo. In his bubble, Putin is apparently not aware of how he looks begging the absurdly pathetic regime for military aid against Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/nH1rOMZRkD
— Konstantin Sonin (@k_sonin) June 19, 2024
And the writer and economic expert Anders Aslund commented even more sharply: “Putin's visit to North Korea is disturbing in many ways. Putin comes to a very poor country as a beggar. He supports the worst dictatorship and organized crime in the world. What a loser...“
The main purpose of Putin's visit to North Korea was to beg for weapons, specifically artillery shells, to use in his war against Ukraine. After the meeting with Kim Jong Un, the Kremlin even announced the signing of a “strategic partnership agreement”. The Kremlin said that this “global strategic partnership” will reflect the “deep evolution of the geopolitical situation around the world”, at a time when both Moscow and Pyongyang consider Washington an existential adversary.
North Korea is one of the poorest countries in the world, where there is no freedom, and the cult of personality seems absurd at times. North Korea, along with Belarus and Iran, are Putin's closest allies in his aggression against the Ukrainian state.