Russland tauschte „Millionen Barrel Öl und Raketen“ gegen nordkoreanische Truppen

**From The Telegraph:**

[Russia](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/11/22/russia-ukraine-zelensky-putin-north-korea-war-latest-news57/) appears to have been supplying [North Korea](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/11/16/north-korea-drones-mass-produce-kamikaze/) with more than a million barrels of oil, as well as anti-air missiles, in exchange for thousands of troops and a steady supply of artillery shells.

The Open Source Centre revealed satellite images which it said prove the Kremlin is [breaking international sanctions](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/03/29/russia-un-security-veto-north-korea-sanctions-ukraine/) by sending oil to North Korea.

A “dozen different” North Korean tankers have docked at oil terminals in Russia’s Far East 43 times since March, according to the imagery [shared with the BBC.](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjr4pr0gyyzo)

The secret transfers violate UN sanctions, which bar countries from selling oil to North Korea in an attempt to prevent the development of its [nuclear weapons programme.](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/10/13/north-korea-on-track-overpower-us-nuclear-defenses/)

“While Kim Jong-un is providing [Vladimir Putin](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/10/26/north-korea-troops-ukraine-price-putin-missile-deal-fears/) with a lifeline to continue his war, Russia is quietly providing North Korea with a lifeline of its own,” said Joe Byrne from the UK-based Open Source Centre (OSC).

The tankers switch off their tracking devices as they sail to Russia’s Vostochny Port, load up with oil and then return to North Korea.

The OSC estimated the volume of oil transfers to be around a million barrels so far by assessing how low the North Korean tankers sat in the sea after loading up.

North Korea, widely considered a pariah state, is not allowed to buy more than 500,000 barrels of oil on the open market, which is far below what it needs and makes Russian supplies vital for Kim.

“This steady flow of oil gives North Korea a level of stability it hasn’t had since these sanctions were introduced,” Mr Byrne explained.

The UN banned North Korea from buying oil on the open market in 2017 after it test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile.

Oil is critical for Kim’s military. Previously he had been forced to rely on a criminal network to receive supplies. These are often transferred from ship to ship in a risky manoeuvre on the open seas.

Russia has also supplied air defence missile systems to Pyongyang in exchange for sending North Korean troops to support Russia’s war against Ukraine, a top South Korean official said on Friday.

“It has been identified that equipment and anti-aircraft missiles aimed at reinforcing Pyongyang’s vulnerable air defence system have been delivered to North Korea,” Shin Won-sik, Seoul’s top security advisor, told local broadcaster SBS.

Russia also appears to have provided Kim Jong-un with financial and technological support for its space programme following a failed spy satellite launch earlier this year, Mr Shin added, a claim corroborated by Western intelligence.

Analysts fear that Russia may decide to transfer sophisticated weapons technology to enhance North Korea’s nuclear-capable missiles, although they say Moscow is unlikely to do this in the initial stage of Pyongyang’s troop deployment.

Earlier this week, Seoul said Pyongyang had transferred more than 13,000 containers of artillery, missiles and other conventional arms to Russia since August 2023 to replenish its diminishing stock piles.

Kim’s artillery deliveries to Russia are credited with helping Putin’s armies overwhelm Ukrainian forces along the frontline.

Experts say that North Korean artillery shells are often poorly manufactured, the sheer volume has been deadly.

Now, in Russia’s southern Kursk region, an estimated 12,000 North Korean conscripts have joined Moscow’s troops fighting Ukrainian soldiers in their foothold inside Russia.

A high-ranking general has become the first senior North Korean military figure to be wounded fighting against Ukrainian troops, Western officials told the Wall Street Journal.

He is believed to be injured during a Ukrainian attack on a Russian command centre in Kursk using British-made Storm Shadow missiles on Wednesday.

Oh man… can Ukraine issue Letters of Marque?

Ukraine is not a signatory of the Paris Declaration and so not bound to the abolishment of privateering. Oddly, neither is the US.

Man oh man it would be too damn fun to seize Russian shipping.

Start targeting these ships before they get the oil

This makes me absolutely sick to my stomach.

Russia buys Slaves

Died in 1948, born again in 2024 welcome back slave trade

So by that logic they’re short on men but have too many arms. Gotcha. Focus on shooting personnel so there is no one to fire the arms. Also, drone warfare works.

North Korea sold its people for some resources… They’re in the slavery business.

That’s a crazy exchange. Your life is worth X amount of oil….

I can’t even process that mindset

NK stocking up for war with SK

How did they fit the missiles into barrels?

It was a trade, if war ended today, those NK would never go back home.

How many lives is a barrel of oil these days

NK is just modern day Cuba crisis. Change my mind 🌝

Russia is a fucking disgrace.

So…human trafficking?

Sounds like a target rich environment.

Now that the US has lessened Ukraine restrictions, couldn’t Ukraine effectively hit these ships while unloading?

I really wonder how the north koreans are doing against drone warfare, its probably gonna be like an alien thing to them

And here we thought it was the US that traded blood for oil.

You’d think Kim might ask for some of that stolen grain to help feed his people. Nope, just oil