The Russian president said Friday that his country will continue to develop its nuclear arsenal, days after signing a new mutual defense pact with Kim Jong Un.

A key U.S. ally fired warning shots Friday — live ones to repel North Korean soldiers and a diplomatic volley to counter Russian President Vladimir Putin, as tensions rise after his new mutual defense pact with Kim Jong Un.

South Korea, which has so far only provided non-lethal aid to Ukraine, said it was considering arming Kyiv in response to a newly forged alliance between Moscow and Pyongyang reminiscent of the Cold War that has alarmed officials in the West.

Putin said that doing so would be a “very big mistake.”

“If this happens, then we will also make appropriate decisions that the current leadership of South Korea would hardly like,” he said during his state visit to Vietnam on Thursday, which immediately followed the lavish Pyongyang visit. “We reserve our right to supply weapons to other regions of the world,” he added.

The Russian president’s saber-rattling continued Friday, when he said that Russia will continue to develop its nuclear arsenal as a deterrent.

    • bassomitron@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Legitimate question, is Russia still able to get all the materials required to make nuclear ICBMs?

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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        4 months ago

        Or is North Korea if they just get the technology and not the parts?

        I mean the first ICBM test was launched in 1957. This isn’t exactly cutting-edge stuff and they still fuck it up at present.

        • ours@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          ICBM is old tech but it has advanced a ton over the decades. It is insane how accurately the US can lob a nuke across the Pacific and hit a designated test target.

          The new Russian ones are supposed to dodge interceptors at their final stage and fly crazy fast.

          • Adderbox76@lemmy.ca
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            4 months ago

            The new Russian ones are supposed to dodge interceptors at their final stage and fly crazy fast.

            The war in Ukraine has proven that what they say they can do and what they can actually do, militarily speaking, is vastly different. I’d be surprised at this point if a russian ICBM isn’t just a homing pidgeon with a grenade strapped to it.

          • skulblaka@startrek.website
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            4 months ago

            The difference between what Russian tech is “supposed” to do and what it actually does has been, historically speaking, significant. I’ll believe this if they manage to credibly get one single munition past a Patriot emplacement or past Aegis. Until then it’s all talk.

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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            4 months ago

            North Korea can’t even successfully launch satellites most of the time. I don’t think they’ll be able to do much with Russian ICBM technology if they can’t do something that Russia has been able to do since 1957.