Russia provides over 1 million barrels of oil to North Korea in exchange for military support

BBC reported the information, citing the British research center Open Source Centre, which analyzed satellite images.

Leading experts and the UK Foreign Minister David Lammy believe that Russia is paying North Korea with oil for weapons and military personnel that the DPRK is providing to support Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Satellite imagery analysis shows that in the past eight months, more than 12 North Korean tankers made 43 trips between a Russian oil terminal in the Far East and North Korean ports.

The images of the tankers at sea indicate that they sailed to Russia empty and returned fully loaded.

The first documented trip, according to Open Source Centre, occurred on March 7, 2024, seven months after initial reports of North Korean ammunition supplies to Russia. The latest trip took place on November 5.

"This steady flow of oil provides North Korea with a level of stability it hasn't seen since sanctions were imposed," said Joe Byrne, senior analyst at Open Source Centre.

Due to its nuclear program, North Korea is under UN sanctions, which prohibit it from purchasing more than 500,000 barrels of oil per year.

The one million barrels (56,000 tons) mentioned by Open Source Centre is a relatively small volume for Russia, which, according to official data, extracts almost ten times that amount in a single day.

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to BBC's request for a comment on Open Source Centre's findings.

• Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Andrii Sybiha, believes that Russia may repay North Korea for providing troops and ballistic missiles by sharing its nuclear technologies.