US says North Korea is sending arms to Russia's Wagner Group for Ukraine war

WASHINGTON - The White House on Thursday warned that North Korea had delivered arms supplies to the Wagner Group, a Russian paramilitary force with close ties to President Vladimir Putin.

North Korea’s foreign ministry denied the report, calling it “groundless”, and denounced the United States for providing lethal weapons to Ukraine, the official KCNA news agency reported on Friday. Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin also denied the assertion as “gossip and speculation”.

US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Mr Prigozhin is spending about US$100 million (S$135 million) a month to deploy Wagner mercenaries in Ukraine. The paramilitary group has played a central role in Russia’s efforts to storm the city of Bakhmut in Donetsk province, which borders Luhansk.

North Korea last month sent infantry rockets and missiles to Russia for Wagner’s use, Mr Kirby said. He said Pyongyang’s deliveries “will not change battlefield dynamics in Ukraine, but we are certainly concerned that North Korea is planning to deliver more military equipment”. Washington planned to report the deliveries as a violation of UN Security Council resolutions, he added.

The comments on Thursday came a day after the Commerce Department tightened sanctions on the security company. The updated restrictions are designed to make it more difficult for the Wagner Group to obtain supplies on the open market.

US officials believe tightening export controls and other sanctions on the Wagner Group will force it to look for arms, ammunition and other equipment from pariah states like North Korea and Iran.

Wagner has about 50,000 people fighting in Ukraine, including 10,000 contractors and about 40,000 convicts that Mr Kirby said the company has recruited from Russian prisons. The company has also sent mercenaries to support the Kremlin’s military campaigns in Africa and the Middle East.

Britain agreed with the US’ conclusion that North Korea was helping to arm Wagner fighters in Ukraine. “The fact that President Putin is turning to North Korea for help is a sign of Russia’s desperation and isolation,” British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said. “We will work with our partners to ensure that North Korea pays a high price for supporting Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine.”

South Korea said on Friday that it condemns the North’s arms shipment to Wagner, adding that it supports the US’ push to raise the issue at the UN Security Council.

Japan’s Tokyo Shimbun earlier reported that North Korea had shipped munitions, including artillery shells, to Russia via train through their border last month, and that more shipments were expected in the coming weeks.

But the North denied the accusations. “The Japanese media’s false report that (North Korea) offered munitions to Russia is the most absurd red herring, which is not worth any comment or interpretation,” a foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement carried by the KCNA. It did not make any mention of Wagner.

“The DPRK remains unchanged in its principled stand on the issue of ‘arms transaction’ between the DPRK and Russia which has never happened,” the spokesman said, adding it is the US that is “bringing bloodshed and destruction to Ukraine by providing it with various kinds of lethal weapons”.

South Korea’s foreign ministry said on Thursday that it has been monitoring North Korea’s activities amid concerns over possible arms transactions with Russia.

In a separate statement, the North Korean foreign ministry also slammed the US’ attempt to issue a UN Security Council presidential statement on its latest intercontinental ballistic missile launch.

Pyongyang “has already and clearly warned that such foolish attempt of the US may entail a very undesirable consequence”, it said, calling the US move a “very dangerous act” that the North “has to counter with action”.

North Korea has tested an unprecedented number of missiles this year, including an intercontinental ballistic missile designed to reach the US mainland, in defiance of international sanctions. NYTIMES, REUTERS