“Russia’s Strategic Partnership With North Korea to ‘Symbolize New Level of Ties'”: Russian President Vladimir Putin approved a new draft comprehensive strategic partnership agreement with North Korea on Tuesday ahead of his two-day official visit to Pyongyang.
Russia’s announced readiness to sign a strategic partnership agreement with North Korea is primarily “a symbolic” step, Artyom Lukin, professor of international politics at the Far Eastern Federal University, Vladivostok, told Sputnik.
“I can suggest that most likely this will be a symbolic document, underscoring that Russia and the DPRK are friends representing a ‘united front against the West,’” he said.
President Vladimir Putin accepted a proposal from the Russian Foreign Ministry to sign a strategic partnership agreement with North Korea ahead of his official visit to the DPRK.
It will “allow the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during negotiations on the signing of the said treaty, to make changes to its draft that are not of a fundamental nature,” according to the relevant decree. Moscow and Pyongyang are set to sign the accord during Putin’s visit to the DPRK on June 18-19.
Russia, North Korea to Sign Strategic Partnership Agreement
Most likely, the new treaty will add on more “anti-Western rhetoric,” he noted, stipulating that the collective West “claims hegemony,” and Russia and the DPRK “stand for a multipolar world and oppose neocolonialism.”
“It will be more interesting to see what exactly President Putin and Kim Jong Un will agree on during the negotiations,” he added.
Asked to shed light on the new treaty, presidential aide Yuri Ushakov noted that the document, “will outline the prospects for further cooperation and will be signed, taking into account what has happened between the countries in recent years in the field of international politics, in the economic sphere, and in the field of relations, including taking into account security issues.”
He clarified that the provisions of the new document taken into account all norms of international law and are not directed against any third country. The document will contribute to stability in the region, the Kremlin underscored.
The new treaty will replace agreements previously signed by Moscow and Pyongyang, such as the Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Assistance (1961), Treaty of Friendship, Good-Neighborliness, and Cooperation signed in 2000, and the Moscow and Pyongyang Declarations of 2000 and 2001.
The 12-article Russia-North Korea Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighborliness, and Cooperation laid the legal foundation for the two countries’ basic relations in 2000. Artyom Lukin pointed out that numerous analytical works have dissected the meaning behind the concept of “comprehensive strategic partnership.” Russia already maintains a strategic partnership relationship with countries such as China, India, and Vietnam.
But none of these literally mean they are “in the same trench,” the professor added.
“I think this is a symbol that our relations with the DPRK are rising to a new level. We confirm that we do not want to participate in the regime of sanctions pressure on the DPRK. Of course, by signing such an agreement, Russia is challenging the international sanctions regime against it,” Lukin underscored.
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By Svetlana Ekimenko
Published by Sputnik Globe
Republished by The 21st Century
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