The West has almost nothing to respond to the sending of North Korean troops to Russia — Bloomberg

Russia's decision to deploy North Korean troops to strengthen its forces has made Ukraine's allies realize that they have few options to respond to this step without further escalation of the conflict. This is reported by Bloomberg.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte confirmed the transfer of North Korean army personnel to Russia after a briefing by senior South Korean officials on Monday in Brussels called it a "significant escalation" of Pyongyang's participation in the war, the agency reports. North Korea is sending about 10,000 of its military to the Kursk region and additional deployment is possible, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters today. Last weekend, US President Joe Biden, in turn, told reporters that "we have options, it depends on what they do."

Choosing the answer, how to respond to the transfer of North Korean troops to Russia, may lead to disagreements between the United States and its allies, the agency emphasizes.

According to a senior South Korean official, South Korea is considering sending weapons directly to Ukraine, abolishing the policy of banning lethal assistance to a country at war. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said on social media earlier in October that the French idea was to send Western personnel to Ukraine "must now be reconsidered, better late than never." Another option for the United States would be to lift restrictions on Ukraine's long-range strikes on the territory of the Russian Federation, "but this will force us to rethink what was previously a red line for Biden's team."

"Washington's underlying philosophy of calculating risk and benefit when it comes to escalation and benefits for Ukrainians probably remains about the same," said the chief executive officer of the Center for a New American Security in Richard Fontaine in Washington.

Sanctions against Moscow and Pyongyang has already been introduced, and the allies' weapons stocks are depleted, Bloomberg notes. Another option that is being discussed is to allow allies such as Poland and Romania to protect Ukraine's airspace, said a source familiar with the negotiations.

"Thus, the United States and Europe have few ways in which they can respond to North Korea's involvement without further escalation of the conflict," the publication emphasizes.

It is also noted that the allies are unlikely to be able to make any significant decisions before the US elections on November 5, another agency interlocutor added.

U.S. and European officials still do not know exactly how North Korean troops will be used in Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin is likely to use them to strengthen defense inside Russia in response to the Ukrainian Armed Forces' invasion of the Kursk region, said Anne Marie Daly, a researcher on Russian policy and military issues at Rand. This means that Putin will not need to withdraw troops from the front line in the east to protect the Kursk region, she added.

However, in terms of options for the United States and Europe, "these are the same tools that have been there all along," including providing more military assistance or using frozen Russian assets, Fontaine sums up, in turn.