Pavel Latushka: Deputy Head of the United Transitional Cabinet of Belarus (UTC), representative of the UTC on power transition. Head of the National Anti-Crisis Management, Leader of the "Latushka Team and Movement for Freedom" fraction in the Coordination Council of the third convocation
During a meeting with Putin on September 15, 2023, Lukashenko suggested that Minsk, Moscow, and Pyongyang could consider "trilateral cooperation". "North Korea, Russia. I think there will be work for Belarus too, given the current issues", remarked the dictator.
Notably, this meeting took place shortly after Putin's meeting with Kim Jong Un on September 13, 2023, in Russia, where they discussed military cooperation, including the potential supply of North Korean weapons and ammunition to Russia to continue the war in Ukraine.
Following this, Lukashenko intensified diplomatic meetings with North Korean leadership. On April 16, 2024, Belarusian Deputy Foreign Minister Yevgeny Shestakov arrived in Pyongyang, and on April 18, he held talks with North Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Im Chon Il. Later, on July 23, 2024, Belarusian Foreign Minister Maksim Ryzhenkov arrived in Pyongyang at the invitation of North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui. Interestingly, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry described this visit as a "reciprocal" one, although no official information about a North Korean delegation visiting Minsk had been reported. At the same time, a Russian military delegation led by Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexei Krivoruchko was also in Pyongyang.
Experts at iSANS, along with the National Anti-Crisis Management team, have assessed the recent increase in Lukashenko's regime’s interactions with North Korea and reached two main conclusions:
A high likelihood exists that Lukashenko himself is preparing for a visit to Pyongyang. Lukashenko, a puppet of Putin, is integrating into Putin's network of relationships with North Korea and, more broadly, aligning himself with the emerging "Axis of Evil" linking Pyongyang, Beijing, Moscow, Minsk, and Tehran.
Although no official information has been released, the cooperation that Lukashenko’s regime is engaging in primarily focuses on military-technical cooperation, the transfer of military technology, and cooperation on weapons production. It is widely understood that both North Korea and Belarus are allied with Russia in the war against Ukraine. Both nations actively manufacture and supply weapons and ammunition to Russia. Thus, military-political cooperation between Lukashenko and Kim Jong Un's regimes is entirely predictable.
Moreover, as Russia, Belarus, and North Korea all face extensive sanctions, one of the primary areas of their collaboration is expected to involve joint efforts to circumvent these existing sanctions.
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