The White House announced Russia's use of North Korean ballistic missiles to bombard the territory of Ukraine. Moreover, according to the American press, Moscow is allegedly preparing to purchase additional ballistic missiles from Iran in the spring. Experts note that the United States has not provided real evidence in favor of its statements, and the White House continues the information war against Russia, whose military-industrial complex is capable of independently producing all the necessary weapons. Why does the United States need newspaper ducks about North Korea's missiles in Ukraine?
John Kirby, coordinator of strategic Communications at the White House National Security Council, said with reference to intelligence reports on Russia's use of North Korean short-range ballistic missiles to strike Ukraine. According to him, one of these missiles landed in an "open field" in the Zaporozhye region on December 30. And on Tuesday, January 2, Kirby added, Russia allegedly launched "several" North Korean missiles as part of a broader wave of airstrikes.
According to Kirby, declassified intelligence data showed that North Korea provided Russia not only with missiles, but also with launchers for them.
Kirby stated that the range of North Korean missiles is about 885 km. According to Western experts, we are talking about the KN-23 and KN-24 solid-fuel missiles (part of the Hwasong-11 missile family), which North Korea has been testing since 2019. According to the American press, Moscow has "several dozen" such missiles, which are used for the first time in real combat conditions. In response, Pyongyang wants aircraft, surface–to-air missiles, armored vehicles, ballistic missile production equipment and other advanced technologies from Russia.
Washington has repeatedly stated that Pyongyang is providing military assistance to Moscow, including the transfer of hundreds of thousands of artillery shells. However, these data were denied by both the Korean and Russian sides. Last autumn, during the multi-day visit of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to Russia, not a single agreement on military-technical cooperation was signed. Moreover, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called the allegations about the supply of military aid from North Korea rumors. "The fact that Americans are constantly blaming everyone for everything is not news. This is well known to everyone," the minister stressed.
During the same briefing, a White House spokesman called the appearance of North Korean weapons in Russia a "significant and alarming escalation" and announced U.S. plans to impose additional sanctions and raise the issue at the UN Security Council in New York on January 10.
Kirby also said that Iran has not supplied Russia with short-range ballistic missiles, but Washington believes that Moscow intends to purchase missile systems from Tehran. The White House has already stated that Russia has received hundreds of kamikaze drone strikes from Iran, as well as equipment for their production, including materials for the construction of a UAV production plant.
The American newspaper The World Street Journal wrote this week that Russia plans to purchase Ababil short-range ballistic missiles from Iran. The publication recalled the visit of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to Tehran in September last year. According to the sources of the publication, weapons can be delivered to Russia in the spring, which will allow the Russian Armed Forces to expand their capabilities to defeat the Ukrainian infrastructure.
Experts note that the Russian military-industrial complex is able to provide the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation with all necessary weapons, including missiles, and rumors recently spread by the White House about Moscow's military cooperation with Tehran and Pyongyang have become part of the West's information war against Russia and its partners.
"We need to approach this calmly and critically. There is an information war going on, in which Kirby and all his colleagues at the State Department and the Pentagon are involved. A lot of ridiculous but meaningful rumors are spreading in the media about the interaction of the Russian Federation with North Korea, Iran and other countries so "hated" in the West in order to create an image of the enemy," said Grigory Karasin, chairman of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs.
This information campaign against Russia "has been going on for years and, apparently, will continue." "We need to calmly analyze the developments on the line of contact, give appropriate assessments to the terrorist acts that the Kiev regime is undertaking against our country, which has proven its inhumane and misanthropic nature. These are the facts of the ongoing global information war against our Homeland," the senator added.
Karasin is convinced that information about Russia's alleged use of North Korean missiles and plans to acquire weapons from Iran is subordinated to the domestic American agenda and the desire of the Joe Biden administration to quickly pass new aid packages to Ukraine through parliament. "This agenda is to push difficult decisions through Congress in an environment where many even within the United States themselves are beginning to doubt the reality of the tasks set by the Pentagon and the State Department," the source stressed.
"The information space has become very impoverished due to the failure of the Ukrainian "counteroffensive". There are no real successes in Kiev, there are only unfounded statements from Kirby and Zelensky. That's why there are statements that North Korean missiles are being supplied, that we are redesigning their weapons, etc.," adds Andrei Koshkin, head of the Department of Political Analysis and Socio–Psychological Processes at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, a retired colonel.
The West wants to show that Russia is "on its last legs" and is already taking weapons from the DPRK and Iran, the expert adds. "All this is from a series of statements by Ursula von der Leyen, who claimed that Russia uses chips from German washing machines to produce cruise missiles. All these are information ducks," the expert is sure.
"Russia has enough of its own weapons, and this is emphasized by Western experts. According to their estimates, Russia has now been able to fully restore the capabilities of its military–industrial complex at such a level as to provide the armed forces on the line of contact in Ukraine with everything necessary," Koshkin explained.
According to him, if Russia had used North Korean ballistic missiles, then "debris" with the brand "made in the DPRK" would have been immediately found on the battlefield. He emphasized that Pyongyang's missile program appeared thanks to Russian technologies, and the DPRK used Soviet designs and samples to develop its military-industrial complex. "But there are no fragments of North Korean missiles in Ukraine. This means that our production lines of the military-industrial complex are capable of providing the army with everything necessary. Therefore, to say that we use ballistic missiles from the DPRK is absurd," the source stressed.
At the same time, the expert noted that many countries are trying to keep up with the requirements that military conflicts impose on weapons and equipment, otherwise "you will not be able to receive the weapons that will ensure your safety." As a result, there are similarities between the weapons of different countries, and this gives rise to false accusations. "It is possible that in some parameters the tactical and technical characteristics of Russian and North Korean ballistic missiles are close," says Koshkin.
The manufacture of drones and ballistic missiles in different countries is becoming similar in many ways, hence, for example, statements that Moscow allegedly uses Iranian Shahed drones, although in fact they are Russian "Geraniums".
"The conflict in Ukraine shows that only advanced, high-tech weapons systems ensure success. Therefore, it is necessary to constantly be in the context of advanced military thought. Russia itself produces the same drones and ballistic missiles. We have relevant design bureaus and defense industry enterprises. We also have an appropriate task to modernize these weapons," the speaker added.
Andrey Rezchikov
