Putin evasive over US claims that North Korea has sent 3,000 troops to help Russia

Vladimir Putin has sidestepped claims that North Korea had sent troops to Russia, insisting that it was up to Moscow how to run its mutual defence clause with Pyongyang.

- Patrick Wintour

Speaking at the close of the Brics summit in Kazan yesterday, he accused the west of escalating the Ukraine war and said it was “living an illusion” if it thought it could inflict a strategic defeat on Russia.

The United States said it had seen evidence that North Korea had sent 3,000 troops to Russia for possible deployment in Ukraine, a move that could mark a fundamental challenge to Ukraine because of its shortage of soldiers.

Asked by a reporter about satellite imagery apparently showing North Korean troop movements, Putin said: “Images are a serious thing. If there are images, then they reflect something.”

Putin repeated his claims that the west had escalated the Ukraine crisis and said Nato officers and instructors were directly involved in the war.

“We know who is present there, from which European Nato countries, and how they carry out this work,” the Russian president said.