The Kremlin is working to increase the number of North Korean labor migrants in Russia, possibly to bolster the Russian workforce and directly join the Russian military.
This is stated in an analysis by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
On June 7, the head of Ukraine's Main Military Intelligence (GRU), Lieutenant General Kirill Budanov, reported that during his recent visit to North Korea, Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu had agreed to work to attract more North Korean migrants to work in Russia.
This reported agreement is in violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSC) 2397, which Russia is a signatory to, which prohibits North Korea from sending its citizens to work abroad and obliges all states - UN member states to expel all North Koreans "earning income" abroad by December 2019.
In March 2024, the Kremlin vetoed an annual UN Security Council resolution to extend the term of a monitoring group that monitors compliance with UN sanctions against North Korea.
Budanov said that Russia was likely looking for North Koreans to replace migrants from Central Asia. He added that many North Korean workers in Russia were likely to sign military contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense (MOD).
In February 2025 ISW assesses that Moscow is creating opportunities for North Korean migrants to go to Russia to join the Russian workforce or the Russian army.
The Kremlin and Pyongyang have openly stepped up their defense cooperation through mutual defense treaties, transfers of military technology and materiel, and the deployment of North Korean forces to fight alongside Russian forces in the Kursk region.
Russia and North Korea appear to be trying to engage in a more covert manner to create avenues for North Koreans to enter the Russian recruitment pipeline.
Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to be shifting his rhetoric toward Russian ethnic nationalism and Russian multinationalism, but he continues to promote anti-Western sentiment and the militarization of Russian youth.
On June 10, Putin held a meeting with the Security Council that largely focused on the unification of nations. of Russia and the use of military-patriotic youth programs and initiatives of the Russian government to promote Russian patriotism.
Putin highlighted the work of the "Movement of the First" - a Russian youth movement aimed at promoting military-patriotic education in Russia and occupied Ukraine, and the "Yunarmiya" ("Youth Army") - a movement responsible for instilling pro-war sentiments in Russian children and teenagers. Putin also highlighted the Russian state-mandated weekly lessons in schools, which often include lectures by soldiers from the war in Ukraine.
The BRICS, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) are Russian-dominated organizations that Putin and other Kremlin officials have repeatedly presented as the basis for the Kremlin's envisioned anti-Western and anti-NATO Eurasian security architecture.