A separatist leader and a Russian state news agency said North Korea on Wednesday recognized the two Russian-backed separatist “people’s republics” in eastern Ukraine as independent states.
The move makes North Korea the third country, after Russia and Syria, to recognize the two separatist parties in Ukraine’s Donbass region, the Donetsk People’s Republics (DPR) and Lugansk (LPR).
DPR leader Denis Pushilin said in a telegram broadcast that he expects “productive cooperation” and increased trade with North Korea, an isolated, nuclear-armed state more than 6,500 kilometers away.
The DPR embassy in Moscow posted a photo on its Telegram channel of a ceremony where Sin Hong-chol, the North Korean ambassador to Moscow, presented a certificate of recognition to DPR ambassador Olga Makeyeva.
The North Korean embassy in Moscow confirmed on Wednesday that both sides recognize their independence, Russian news agency Tass later reported.
Russia, which has supported the regions since 2014, recognized the regions on the eve of its invasion of Ukraine, in a move condemned as illegal by Kyiv and the West.
North Korea has previously expressed support for Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.
source: Noticias
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