Putin welcomed his ally in Vladivostock in September 2023 (Picture: AFP/AP)
Nothing says ‘Thank you for the ammo’ like a £350,000 armoured limousine.
Vladimir Putin knows how to spoil an ally, sending Kim Jong Un a Russian-made luxury car for his personal collection.
This is the latest show of the ‘special friendly relations’ between the two countries, which has only strengthened since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Russia was running out of weapons in 2023 – it was evident during the attacks in eastern Ukraine, after key equipment was destroyed, using British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles.
To replenish stocks, the Kremlin reached out to North Korea, opening up a supply line that suggested plans to continue the war for a long time.
The gift was delivered to Kim’s top aides by the Russian side on Sunday, official KCNA news agency said.
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Kim’s sister ‘courteously conveyed Kim Jong Un’s thanks to Putin to the Russian side, saying that the gift serves as a clear demonstration of the special personal relations between the top leaders.’
South Korea’s foreign ministry stressed that it was closely monitoring the relations between Russia and North Korea while urging both countries to comply with U.N. Security Council resolutions.
Sanctions on the regime prohibit directly or indirectly supplying, selling or moving all transportation vehicles internationally categorised as HS Code 86 through to 89 regardless of their origin to North Korea including luxury cars.
Kremlin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russia’s RIA state news agency that the Korean leader received an Aurus car.
The North Korean leader responds as Putin sends him off from the Vostochny cosmodrome outside the city of Tsiolkovsky, in the far eastern Amur region, Russia, in September 2023 (Picture: AP)
The two leaders during a reception at the Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU) on Russky Island (Picture: TASS)
According to the carmaker’s website, the car is Russia’s first full-size luxury sedan.
It is also Putin’s presidential car. In September, while visiting Russia’s space launch station in the far east, Kim inspected the Aurus Senat limousine and was invited by the Russian leader to climb into the back seat.
Kim himself drove to the site in a Maybach limousine brought onboard a special train he travelled in from Pyongyang.
Kim is believed to be an avid automobile enthusiast and has a large collection of luxury foreign vehicles, which are likely smuggled in.
The Maybach and others he had been seen in including several Mercedes limousines, a Rolls-Royce Phantom and a Lexus sports utility vehicle fall under luxury goods that U.N. Security Council resolutions ban from export to North Korea.
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