Pact with North Korea will protect us both from aggression, says Putin
With updates from Shaimaa Khalil and Jake Kwon in Seoul, Laura Bicker in Beijing, Ben Tavener in Moscow, Jean Mackenzie in Ukraine and Ayeshea Perera, Yvette Tan, Frances Mao, Kelly Ng and Fan Wang in Singapore
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Edited by Flora Drury
All times stated are UK
First picture: Kim meets Putin on tarmac in Pyongyang
This is one of the first images to emerge from Putin's state visit to North Korea, coming shortly after his arrival in Pyongyang.
We can see North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meeting the Russian president on the tarmac at Pyongyang's airport.
A look at Putin's last visit to North Korea
It's been 24 years since the Russian president last visited Pyongyang.
Back in July 2000, Putin met with Kim's father - Kim Jong Il - who served as North Korea's leader until his death in 2011.
Here are some pictures from that visit, which came at the start of Putin's presidential career.
Kim met Putin on the tarmac - report
Despite his (very) early morning arrival, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with his Russian counterpart on the airport tarmac, according to Russia's state-owned Tass News Agency.
They began to converse immediately as they walked to their motorcade, Tass reports.
What Putin's 2024 visit means
Ben Tavener
Moscow producer
Touching down in Pyongyang fires the starting gun on what has been dubbed a “friendly” state visit to North Korea.
It is now past 3am on Wednesday there, so the official welcoming ceremony is expected to take place later on Thursday.
After that, we understand bilateral talks between delegates, Putin and the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will take place, followed by an official signing ceremony to highlight the two countries’ new “comprehensive strategic partnership” and joint statements from the leaders.
A wreath-laying ceremony, gala concert and official dinner are expected later in the day.
The visit is significant for two main reasons: firstly, it’s rare - it is only Putin’s second trip to North Korea as Russian leader - the first was in 2000 at the beginning of his time in office when Kim Jong Il was still supreme leader.
But the backdrop couldn’t be more different now.
Then, Russia was coming in from the cold; now, Russia is isolated from the West and widely sanctioned over its “special military operation” in Ukraine. Russia and Korea-watchers seem to agree that Moscow’s main reason for the trip is to bolster Russia’s military supplies to feed its war effort.
More widely, Russia is looking for new friends (convenient or otherwise) - and closer ties with a country for which there is a common enemy, the US and the “Collective West” as Putin dubs them, which seems to work in both countries’ favour.
Trips like these are becoming rarer for Putin
Laura Gozzi
Europe reporter
There was a time when President Putin travelled the world. As recently as 2019, he visited France, Finland, Brazil and Italy.
But more recently, the Russian president has largely stayed put.
Covid curtailed his foreign trips - but ordering the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 made him persona non grata in large swathes of the West.
Then, in March 2023 came the arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia.
Since then, Putin has travelled considerably less often, only visiting countries that are not signatories to the ICC, like Belarus and Saudi Arabia.
These days, he doesn't even travel very much within his own country, which may be why he decided to include a pit stop in the eastern Siberian city of Yakutsk on his way to North Korea.
It was Putin's first visit to the remote city - which is six time zones ahead of Moscow - in 10 years.
Kremlin confirms Putin's arrival
The Kremlin has confirmed the Russian president's arrival with a very simple Telegram message:
Stay with us as we bring you the latest from this historic visit, including first pictures of his arrival at the airport.
BreakingVladimir Putin lands in North Korea
The Russian president has finally landed in the capital, Pyongyang, officially beginning his first visit to North Korea in 24 years.
It's very late at night there now, and therefore unlikely - but not impossible - that we'll see much pageantry tonight to welcome his arrival.
Putin's delegation includes Defence Minister Andrei Belousov, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the heads of the Russian space agency.
He last visited the city in July 2000 at the start of his presidential career. The country was then led by Kim Jong Il, who died in 2011 and was succeeded by his son, Kim Jong Un.
The two leaders are expected to use this trip to show off the tightening bonds between Russia and North Korea. Putin's policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, has also signalled that the two countries might sign a security partnership.
Military escorted Putin's plane for the first time over Russia
BBC Monitoring
The world through its media
At least one fighter jet escorted Putin's aircraft when he flew over Russia to the eastern Siberian city of Yakutsk on Tuesday.
It's the first reported case of him being accompanied by military aircraft inside the country, according to investigative outlet Agentstvo. Putin's planes previously only received an armed escort during foreign visits.
Locals posted videos on social media of at least one Sukhoi Su-30 jet escorting Putin's plane before it landed in Yakutsk, Agentsvo reported. The Russian president was making his first visit to the city in 10 years before departing for North Korea.
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov evaded questions about the possibility of the president's plane being accompanied by jets when he travelled to the Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad in January 2024, the outlet said.
However, Russian media have reported extensively on Putin receiving an escort during trips abroad since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, including to neighbouring Belarus and Kazakhstan, Agentstvo said.
We're still awaiting the arrival of two more Russian planes
While the first Russian plane has landed in Pyongyang, we're still watching for the the other two aircrafts carrying members of the country's delegation to North Korea.
One of the planes is expected to land in the next 20 minutes, according to online flight tracker Flight Radar. It's unclear exactly when the other plane will land.
At this moment, we don't know which plane, if any, Putin is on.
Stay with us and we'll bring you the latest from this historic visit.
LISTEN: Why Putin and Xi are courting Kim Jong Un
North Korea is often seen as a pariah state, closed off from the world. But for decades it’s had deep, if turbulent, relations with Russia and China.
On the latest episode of The Global Story podcast, Katya Adler asks how the war in Ukraine is motivating these powerful neighbours to get closer to Kim Jong Un.
Christian Davies, the Financial Times’ Seoul bureau chief, says Putin has come to see Kim Jong Un as a valuable supplier of weapons for Russia’s war effort.
The Global Story podcast looks at what a rekindled friendship between Kim and Putin mean for China and the rest of the world.
First Russian plane lands in North Korea
Phil McCausland
Reporting from New York
One of the three Russian government planes travelling to Pyongyang from the eastern Siberian city of Yakutsk has landed, according to online flight trackers.
Putin visited the Russian city ahead of his trip to North Korea.
It's unclear which of the planes - if any - he may be travelling on, but a pro-Kremlin Telegram channel reported that Putin left Yakutsk shortly after the first aircraft took off.
As we've previously reported, there is nothing odd about this number of planes being involved in a world leader's foreign trip. The delegation is large, including a number of government officials, Russian media outlets and some business figures.
Putin writes column for N Korean media extolling friendship
On the eve of his arrival, Vladimir Putin looked back on Russia and North Korea’s long history in an article published on the Rodong Sinmun newspaper.
Putin wrote that Moscow was “the first among the world’s states” to recognise and establish diplomatic ties with Pyongyang.
“Our country helped the Korean friends to build their national economy, create a healthcare system, develop science and education, and train professional administrative and technical staff,” he said.
The Soviet Union also“extended a helping hand” to North Korea during the Korean War, the Russian President added in the piece.
“I am convinced that our joint efforts will take our bilateral interaction to a higher level, which will facilitate mutually beneficial and equal cooperation between Russia and the DPRK."
Russian planes heading for North Korea
Ben Tavener
Moscow producer
As the time ticks past midnight in Pyongyang, online flight trackers are showing at least three Russian government planes apparently en route between the city of Yakutsk, where President Vladimir Putin paid a visit on Tuesday, and Russia’s short border with North Korea.
Which of the three aircraft is Mr Putin in - if any - we don’t know for sure.
However, a pro-Kremlin Telegram channel, Brief, reported that Putin had left Yakutsk shortly after the first aircraft took off.
That plane has now rounded Russia’s border with China - avoiding Chinese airspace - and is due to cross into North Korean airspace imminently.
There is nothing unusual about this number of planes being involved in heads of state’s foreign travel: we know there are multiple delegations from a string of Russian ministries, plus Russian media outlets and, likely, some key business figures on board.
If we assume President Putin is in the lead plane, he should touch down in Pyongyang in an hour or two.
What can we expect from the upcoming meeting?
Russia and North Korea may sign a security partnership agreement during Putin’s visit, according to his policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov.
While not directed against any country, Ushakov said the pact would “outline prospects for further cooperation”.
Putin’s delegation - which includes Defence Minister Andrei Belousov, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the heads of the Russian space agency - could also provide clues as to what might be on the agenda.
Analysts say the visit will also be a chance for Putin and Kim to show off their growing alliance to the world.
The meeting will likely “signal a deepening in their strategic partnership. Kim will be keen for Russia to agree on new forms of cooperation, including in technical areas,” says Ankit Panda, an analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Michael Madden, founder of North Korea Leadership Watch, says Russia might even even seek North Korea’s greater participation in the Brics alliance, where Russia holds the rotating chairmanship, he says.
Putin visit on the heels of Ukraine peace summit
Putin is set to arrive in North Korea just days after Ukraine hosted a peace summit in Switzerland, to show that Kyiv still has the support of the West and its allies.
Russia was not invited to the weekend event, and its key ally, China, did not attend despite being asked. Several of the 90 or so countries, including India, South Africa and Saudi Arabia, did not sign a document that blamed the war’s destruction on Moscow.
This shows that “people are not certain where this is going and what the stability of Western support for Ukraine will be going forward”, said Sam Greene, a professor in Russian politics at London’s King’s College.
“That is enough for Putin,” Greene told the BBC’s Newshour programme on the eve of the Russian leader’s arrival in Pyongyang.
“Putin’s goals when it comes to the narrative, he does not need anyone around the world to buy the story he is selling,” he said.
Instead what he does want is to cast doubt on two things that has galvanised support for Volodymyr Zelensky - that Ukraine can win and that the West can give a high level of support.
'The visit is all about Russian cash for artillery shells'
Andrei Lankov, one of the world's leading authorities on North Korea, agrees with other analysts we've spoken to: the visit is all about Russia buying ammunition for its war in Ukraine.
“From a purely economic point of view, North Korea has nearly zero value for Russia,” Professor Lankov, director at NK News, told the BBC.
But he said North Korea has the right kind of ammunition and, unlike most countries, is willing to sell it to Russia, which badly needs it on the frontline in Ukraine.
“Above all, high calibre artillery shells… and Russia is willing to pay good money. There are other dimensions, but this is probably the single most important factor in the revival in relations between the two countries.”
What is less clear, he said, is how much military technology Russia might transfer to North Korea.
“Personally I am sceptical… I don’t expect Russia to provide North Korea with a large amount of military technology.”
Prof Lankov thought Russia “is not getting much and probably creating potential problems for the future” if it did so.
South Korea, US sound alarm over Putin-Kim meet
As we wait for Vladimir Putin to arrive in North Korea, let's take a minute to look at some of the international reaction.
According to South Koreea's foreign ministry, First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong-kyun and US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell discussed the trip in an emergency phone call late last week.
Campbell told Kim that Washington supports Seoul’s stand that the visit should not result in a “further deepening of military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow in a way that undermines regional peace and stability in violation of UN Security Council resolutions”.
The two sides agreed to continue “airtight” coordination in the face of North Korea’s actions that escalate tensions in the Korean peninsula.
Putin releases pictures of talks - in Russia's far east
The Kremlin has released a picture of Vladimir Putin holding a meeting - just not one with a North Korean official (yet).
The image shows President Putin in the Russian city of Yakutsk, which is some 450km (280 miles) south of the Arctic Circle, and still several hours by plane and more than 2,500km from Pyongyang.
The picture shows him meeting Aisen Nikolayev, head of the Sakha Republic, of which Yakutsk is the main city.
Whether or not the Russian leader has left Yakutsk now is not entirely clear.
What is becoming more and more apparent is that this will be a late night arrival in the North Korean capital.
What happened when Putin last visited North Korea?
When he last visited North Korea in 2000, Vladimir Putin had just become President of Russia.
He was met with an elaborate welcome, including a 21-gun salute. Then leader, Kim Jong Il, father of the current leader Kim Jong Un, also welcomed him personally at the airport.
Putin had been on a mission to restore Moscow’s relationship with the North.
The Soviet Union backed North Korea when the Korean peninsula was split into two at the end of World War Two. The US had supported the South
But the alliance between Pyongyang and Moscow deteriorated slowly in the years that followed. Moscow also began establishing relations with South Korea.
But after Putin came to power, he actively sought to rebuild ties with Pyongyang, in what analysts say was a sign of Putin looking to expand Russia's regional influence.
What we know so far
It's just past 20:00 in Pyongyang, 14:00 in Moscow and noon in London. If you are just joining us, here's what you need to know: