North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is preparing to visit Russian President Vladimir Putin, probably this month, to discuss selling Russia artillery shells and antitank weapons to use in Ukraine, The New York Times reported Monday, citing U.S. and allied officials. Kim and Putin will likely meet in Vladivostok, just north of Russia's narrow land border with North Korea on Russia's Pacific Coast, when Russia hosts the Eastern Economic Forum Sept. 10 to 14.
Whether or not she meeting happens, asking North Korea for weapons "has to be horrifically embarrassing for Russian leadership, for the Kremlin," said CNN national security analyst Steve Hall, a former CIA chief of Russia operations. "It would be like the United States turning to Uruguay and saying, 'Hey, can you help us out on this war?'"
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