Russia appears to be trying to ease tensions in its relations with South Korea after receiving credible reports of increased North Korean cooperation with Russia, including warnings from South Korean and Ukrainian intelligence that a contingent of North Korean troops had been sent to Russia for training.
This is stated in the daily analysis of the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
South Korea's foreign ministry has summoned Russia's ambassador to Seoul, Georgy Zinoviev, over reports of North Korean military personnel stationed in Russia.
The Russian Embassy in South Korea falsely framed the event as a voluntary meeting, as opposed to a diplomatic summons, and specifically claimed that any cooperation between Russia and North Korea "is not directed against security interests" of Seoul.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian-North Korean cooperation "should not cause concern" in other countries and that the information about the alleged presence of North Korean troops in Russia can be "contradictory".
The Kremlin's apparent desire to reassure South Korea that its cooperation with North Korea does not pose a threat to Seoul suggests that the Kremlin remains deeply troubled by the prospect of Seoul's eventual reversal of providing much-needed military support to Ukraine and the consequences of deteriorating relations with Seoul for Russian security interests in the Asia-Pacific region.
As ISW noted, Russia has previously tried to woo Seoul to mitigate the effects of its growing dependence on North Korea.
The European Union (EU) referendum held in Moldova on October 20 was passed by an extremely narrow margin, largely thanks to the support of the Moldovan diaspora, and the current president of Moldova, Maia Sandu, will face Alexander Stojanoglu in the second round of voting on November 3.
Several Moldovan and European officials have reported potential Russian interference in the election, and the Kremlin and its affiliates in Moldova are likely to continue their malign influence efforts ahead of the Nov. 3 runoff.
Kremlin officials and Russian bloggers allege that Moldovan authorities falsified the election and referendum results and continued to promote longstanding Kremlin narratives directed against Moldova's path to European integration.
On October 21, US Defense Secretary Austin traveled to Kiev and announced a new $400 million military aid package for Ukraine.
Ukrainian forces have recently advanced in the western part of the Kursk region.
Russian forces advanced west of Kremenna, southeast of Pokrovsk and southeast of Kurakhovo.
Recently, Russian forces conducted several mechanized attacks from different echelons in the direction of Kurakhov.
The Russian occupation authorities continue to force the occupied Ukrainian population to sign contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD).