News
Putin Lauds North Korea’s Support For Ukraine War
Russian President Vladimir Putin landed in North Korea early Wednesday, the Kremlin said, kicking off a visit set to boost defence ties between the two nuclear-armed countries as Moscow pursues its war in Ukraine.
Just after the pre-dawn touchdown, Russian TV showed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un greeting Putin in the dark, on a red carpet at Pyongyang’s airport, with the pair shaking hands and embracing before a motorcade took Putin along streets lined with Russian flags.
The trip is Putin’s first to the isolated nation in 24 years, with a recent confrontation between North and South Korean troops on the countries’ shared border highlighting regional security tensions.
Moscow and Pyongyang have been allies since North Korea’s founding after World War II and have drawn even closer since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 led to the West isolating Putin internationally.
The United States and its allies have accused North Korea of supplying Russia with much-needed arms, including ballistic missiles to use in Ukraine.
The North has denied giving Russia military hardware, but ahead of his trip, Putin thanked Kim’s government for helping the war effort.
“We highly appreciate that the DPRK (North Korea) is firmly supporting the special military operations of Russia being conducted in Ukraine,” Putin wrote in an article published by Pyongyang’s state media Tuesday.
Russia and the North are “now actively developing the many-sided partnership”, Putin wrote.
Both countries are under rafts of United Nations sanctions — Pyongyang since 2006 over banned nuclear and ballistic missile programmes and Moscow over the invasion of Ukraine.
Putin praised North Korea for “defending their interests very effectively despite the US economic pressure, provocation, blackmail and military threats that have lasted for decades”.
He also hailed Moscow and Pyongyang for “maintaining the common line and stand at the UN”.
North Korea said the visit showed bilateral ties “are getting stronger day by day”, the official Korean Central News Agency reported.
– US concern –
Pyongyang has described allegations of supplying weapons to Russia as “absurd”.
However, it did thank Russia for using its UN veto in March to effectively end monitoring of sanctions violations just as UN experts were starting to probe alleged arms transfers.
The United States voiced “concern” Monday about Putin’s trip because of the security implications for South Korea as well as Ukraine.
The two Koreas have remained technically at war since their 1950-53 conflict and the border dividing them is one of the most heavily fortified in the world.
“We know North Korean ballistic missiles are still being used to hit Ukrainian targets (and) there could be some reciprocity here that could affect security on the Korean peninsula,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
Highlighting those security concerns, South Korea said its troops fired warning shots at soldiers from the North who briefly crossed the border Tuesday and then retreated.
The South’s military said it believed the North Korean soldiers accidentally crossed as they were fortifying the border, but said some of them were wounded after detonating landmines.
– ‘Lonely bromance’ –
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Putin’s trip showed how he was “dependent” on authoritarian leaders.
“Their closest friends and the biggest supporters of the Russian war effort — war of aggression — (are) North Korea, Iran and China,” Stoltenberg said.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged the international community to counter “the lonely bromance” between Putin and Kim by increasing arms supplies to Kyiv.
“The best way to respond to it is to continue strengthening the diplomatic coalition for just and lasting peace in Ukraine and delivering more Patriots and ammunition to Ukraine,” Kuleba told AFP.
North Korea is eager for high-end military technology to advance its nuclear, missile, satellite and nuclear-powered submarine programmes, according to experts.
The Kremlin released a document on Tuesday confirming that Russia plans to sign a “strategic partnership” treaty with North Korea.
Given North Korea’s chronic resource shortages, Pyongyang is expected to discuss ways to strengthen cooperation in areas such as tourism, agriculture and mining, “in exchange for providing military supplies” to Russia, a report from the Seoul-based Institute for National Security Strategy said.
Other issues including “cooperation on the deployment of North Korean workers or the supply of energy to North Korea — both of which would violate sanctions… are also likely to be discussed” behind the scenes, INSS researcher Kim Sung-bae wrote.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has dismissed media reports suggesting that the recently resuscitated old Port Harcourt refinery has been shut down, labeling such claims as baseless and misleading.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Saturday, the Chief Corporate Communications Officer of NNPCL, Olufemi Soneye, clarified that the refinery, with a capacity of 60,000 barrels per day, is “fully operational.”
The facility resumed operations two months ago after years of inactivity.
“We wish to clarify that such reports are totally false, as the refinery is fully operational, as verified a few days ago by former Group Managing Directors of NNPC,” Soneye said.
He added that preparations for the day’s loading operation are currently underway, emphasizing that the public should disregard the claims.
“Members of the public are advised to discountenance such reports as they are the figments of the imagination of those who want to create artificial scarcity and rip off Nigerians,” Soneye stated.
The old Port Harcourt refinery is part of the country’s efforts to revive its local refining capacity. Three years ago, the Federal Government approved $1.5 billion to rehabilitate the plant, which was initially shut down in 2019 due to operational challenges.
Despite being one of the largest oil producers globally, Nigeria has long relied on fuel imports to meet its domestic needs, swapping crude oil for petrol and other refined products. This dependency, coupled with government subsidies, has strained the nation’s foreign exchange reserves.
The recent return of the Port Harcourt refinery to operation follows the commissioning of the Dangote refinery, which began petrol production in September 2024. These developments are expected to reduce Nigeria’s reliance on imports and address long-standing issues in the petroleum sector.
The Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, has declared that the era of armed and bank robberies in Lagos State is a thing of the past, attributing the success to the collaborative efforts between the police and the state government.
Egbetokun made this statement on Thursday during the 18th Annual Town Hall Meeting on Security organized by the Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF). He noted that since 2007, only one bank robbery had been successfully executed in the state, which occurred in 2014.
“There was a time when armed robbery and bank robbery were common in Lagos. However, I can confidently say that since 2007, only one bank robbery succeeded, and that was as far back as 2014. The days of armed robbery and bank robbery are gone,” he said.
The IGP commended the Lagos State Government for its consistent support, emphasizing the critical role it has played in maintaining security in the bustling economic hub of the nation. He highlighted the challenges posed by the state’s continuous internal migration, with thousands of people moving into Lagos daily, creating additional security demands.
“What we are doing here today is the usual assistance the state government has been giving to the police. Without this, we would have been overwhelmed with insecurity in Lagos State,” Egbetokun added.
At the event, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu further demonstrated his administration’s commitment to security by donating over 250 brand-new patrol vehicles, along with hardware, communication gadgets, and protective gear to the police.
In his address, Sanwo-Olu outlined the government’s efforts to scale up the use of technology and data for improved security and traffic monitoring. He revealed plans to deploy drone technology for surveillance of waterways and densely populated areas.
“The EGIS component of our mapping and digitalization has almost been completed. Lagos is now properly mapped, and drone technology will be deployed to enhance monitoring, crowd management, and traffic assessment. This will ensure real-time responses to incidents,” the governor explained.
Chad announced Thursday that it was ending military cooperation with former colonial power France, just hours after a visit by French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot.
“The government of the Republic of Chad informs national and international opinion of its decision to end the accord in the field of defence signed with the French Republic,” foreign minister Abderaman Koulamallah said in a statement on Facebook.
Chad is a key link in France’s military presence in Africa, constituting Paris’s last foothold in the Sahel after the forced withdrawal of its troops from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
“This is not a break with France like Niger or elsewhere,” Koulamallah, whose country still hosts around a thousand French troops, told AFP.
At a press briefing after a meeting between President Mahamat Idriss Deby and Barrot, Koulamallah called France “an essential partner” but added it “must now also consider that Chad has grown up, matured and is a sovereign state that is very jealous of its sovereignty”.
Barrot, who arrived in Ethiopia on Thursday evening, could not immediately be reached for comment.
– ‘Historic turning point’-
Chad is the last Sahel country to host French troops.
It has been led by Deby since 2021, when his father Idriss Deby Itno was killed by rebels after 30 years in power.
The elder Deby frequently relied on French military support to fend off rebel offensives, including in 2008 and 2019.
It borders the Central African Republic, Sudan, Libya and Niger, all of which host Russian paramilitary forces from the Wagner group.
Deby has sought closer ties with Moscow in recent months, but talks to strengthen economic cooperation with Russia have yet to bear concrete results.
Koulamallah called the decision to end military cooperation a “historic turning point”, adding it was made after “in-depth analysis”.
“Chad, in accordance with the provisions of the agreement, undertakes to respect the terms laid down for its termination, including the notice period”, he said in the statement, which did not give a date for the withdrawal of French troops.
The announcement comes just days after Senegal’s President Bassirou Diomaye Faye indicated in an interview with AFP that France should close its military bases in that country.
“Senegal is an independent country, it is a sovereign country and sovereignty does not accept the presence of military bases in a sovereign country,” Faye told AFP on Thursday.
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