ISW Analyzed Putin's New Statements on Cooperation with North Korea.

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin doubled down on the existing information operation against Ukraine and commented on cooperation with North Korea.

As "Khvylya" reports, this is stated in the analytics of the Institute for the Study of War.

Analysts noted that the Kremlin leader is trying to justify Russia's illegal and unprovoked invasion by alleging that Ukraine has violated its neutral status.

Additionally, the war criminal cynically lied about the fact that Russia recognized Ukraine's borders as defined in the 1991 Declaration of Independence until the country declared its intention to join NATO.

ISW also reminded that contrary to Putin's false statements, the Russian army began its invasion of Ukraine and annexed Crimea before the Ukrainian parliament voted to abandon the country's neutral status. Furthermore, in the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, Russia committed to respecting Ukraine's independence, sovereignty, and existing borders in exchange for decommissioning nuclear weapons.

At the same Time, in his informational attack, Putin tried to use the article of the UN Charter on the right to self-determination to justify Russia's invasion of Crimea in 2014 and the broader invasion in 2022.

In addition to this, in his recent statements, the Russian dictator tried to downplay the growing relationship between Russia and North Korea. In particular, Putin claimed that the recently ratified agreement on strategic comprehensive partnership between Russia and North Korea simply means a "return" to the treaty that existed between the Soviet Union and North Korea. He also stated that the 2024 agreement is "nothing new".

Analysts expressed the opinion that Putin's constant characterization of Russia-North Korea relations as "nothing new" sharply contrasts with the historically unprecedented deployment of up to 12,000 North Korean soldiers to participate in combat against Ukraine. In response, South Korea indicated its potential readiness to increase support for Ukraine, given the clear connection between North Korea and Russia.

Meanwhile, Russia's chief war criminal hoped that his false minimizations of Russia's relations with North Korea would somewhat alleviate South Korea's concerns. Additionally, ISW emphasized that while the dictator downplays these relationships to an international audience, other Kremlin officials more accurately characterize these relationships as "unprecedented" and "historic" during meetings with North Korean officials. They underline the delicate rhetorical balance that Russia must now maintain to keep North Korea's support without directly drawing Seoul into the confrontation.

It was previously reported that Putin wants to reset Russia-US relations on his terms.