Loading ...Russia will consider dispatch of F16s to Ukraine as aggression that activates its mutual defense agreement with North Korea
Author – Gilbert Doctorow
Vladimir Putin remarked that the Partnership has a military component which affirms that each side will come to the aid of the other if it is under attack. Then, gratuitously, one might say, he mentioned the impending dispatch of F-16s by NATO countries that are to use Ukrainian territory to strike deep into the Russian Federation heartland. The juxtaposition of these two points in his speech leaves little doubt to those of us trained as Sovietologists that Putin considers what NATO is about to do at its Western borders as the very act of aggression that will trigger Russia’s Strategic Partnership with North Korea and present the United States with a live threat to its military bases in Korea, in Japan and in the broader region.
Whether we choose to consider this scenario as ‘symmetric’ or ‘asymmetric’ response is beside the point.
This is a bit of a stretch. While the new agreement with N Korea is important, I doubt that Russia will want to widen the war to the Korean Peninsula just because NATO introduces some low grade F16s into the theatre. Although, if matters begin to escalate wildly, it would become more likely. What I thought was interesting was N Korea’s offer of one hundred thousand troops for use in Ukraine. If rumours of a significant number of western troops entering the fray are true, wouldn’t it be ironic if they were confronted by highly trained N Korean troops?