Whose side is Russia on? North Korea's - East-Asia-Intel.com
SEOUL ? Russia has revealed its eagerness to sell information and technology to North Korea for use in Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.
Alexei Grigoriev, deputy director of Russia's Federal Information Technologies Agency, told the Russian news agency Itar-Tass that Moscow was interested in "establishing contacts with the Korean side and discussing future cooperation."
Grigoriev cited as an example the sale of sophisticated gear to store and transport nuclear material. The company, Atlas, also was revealed to have opened talks with North Korea on encryption technology and security systems.
Prior to the missile launch Russia advised North Korea that it "strongly objects to any actions that can negatively influence regional stability and worsen nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula." Russia, however, has lined up with China in the UN, opposing moves for sanctions in the UN Security Council where both China and Russia have veto power along with the U.S., France and Britain, which favor sanctions.
The exchanges between Russia and North Korea surfaced at an exhibition of information technology last month in Pyongyang while the North was preparing to test fire missiles, including the long-range Taepodong-2.
Many of the products on display had potential military as well as civilian applications, but North Korean military officers seemed mostly interested in their military potential.
Grigoriev was quoted as saying that North Korea wanted high-tech items to counter the "threat posed by international terrorism."
The London Daily Telegraph, in a report attributed in part to an anonymous "special correspondent" in Pyongyang, said that the Russian embassy in Pyongyang later denied the report and that Grigoriev denied giving the interview.
The ambivalence displayed by Grigoriev's alleged comments, by the exhibition, and by the later denials all underlined Russia's historic and evolving role in the region.
The Telegraph cited sources close to the proposed sale as viewing it as "evidence of Russia's secret support for its Soviet-era ally, which was once a bulwark against Chinese influence in the Far East."
Nicholas Eberstadt, at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, was quoted as saying that Russia "seems more ambitious to restore that influence than to play a positive role in international affairs." Russia's President Vladimir Putin, he noted, had suggested several years ago that Moscow, "as a protector and provider for the North Korean regime, launch a North Korean satellite."
After the missiles were fired on July 4, the Russian Foreign Ministry contented itself with a statement to the effect that the missiles had endangered shipping and "violated the commonly accepted world practice of giving a warning."