Russia’s Shoigu is Shopping for Weapons in North Korea, US Says

Is Russia on a shopping trip to North Korea for weapons and supplies? The U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu is doing just that, in Pyongyang.

Shortly after Shoigu arrived on a rare trip to North Korea, Blinken said that Russia is jockeying to buy arms from foreign allies. 

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“I strongly doubt he’s there on holiday,” Blinken told reporters in Australia, where he is talking to Pacific Island nations about economic and security issues.

“We’re seeing Russia desperately looking for support, for weapons, wherever it can find them to continue to prosecute its aggression against Ukraine,” he said.

“We see that in North Korea, we see that as well with Iran, which has provided many drones to Russia that it’s using to destroy civilian infrastructure and [with which its] killed civilians in Ukraine.”

While in North Korea, Shoigu met the country’s leader Kim Jong Un, in what Pyongyang’s state media described as “a friendly talk.”