It was an American newspaper, the New York Times, which announced Vladimir Putin’s meeting with Kim Jong Un, a week before Moscow and Pyongyang confirmed it. Meanwhile, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan noted that North Korea would “pay a price” if a deal to supply ammunition and weapons that Russia could use in Ukraine is confirmed. The Russian leader’s first response took place in Vladivostok, involving the previous tenant of the White House, a man from whom he makes no secret of his interest in reactivating his colorful friendship.

“As for Trump’s impeachment, what is happening under the current circumstances is, in my opinion, a good thing because it shows the rot of the American political system, which cannot claim to teach democracy to others. Everything that is happening with Trump is persecution for political reasons of a political rival,” Putin said.

No one at the Eastern Economic Forum, taking place in Vladivostok, dared to say that, strictly speaking, Trump has filed not one indictment, but 91 in four criminal cases (and faces other civil cases). Let alone the legal prosecution that the Moscow regime, protected by anti-extremism legislation, has carried out against political rivals who are not assassinated or who survive attempts, such as Alexei Navalny or Vladimir Kara-Murza.

“We heard Mr. Trump say that in a few days he will solve urgent problems, including the Ukrainian crisis. Well, this can only be a reason to be happy. This is good,” said Putin, who then poured water on the prospects. for a normalized relationship with the US, even if Trump were elected in 2024. “It’s hard to say what to expect in the future, whoever the president is, but it’s unlikely that anything will change radically.” The problem lies with Joe Biden and his administration, who have instilled “a strong bias against Russia.”

In fact, the days when Putin and Trump met alone – with the exception of the translators – in Helsinki are long gone. Who would have thought five years ago that the country that welcomed them is now a member of NATO, or that the Russian president considered the “era of acute ideological confrontation between the two countries” as “a relic of the past” while both promised a group of activities to stimulate economic cooperation.

The press conference also went down in history as both men denied what US intelligence services had concluded about Russian interference in the 2016 election, and Putin clearly said he wanted Trump to win over Hillary Clinton.

The American businessman and leading candidate for the Republican nomination for next year’s presidential elections has also not hidden his admiration for Vladimir Putin – and now other autocrats and dictators, such as Xi Jinping and Kim Jong-un.

In June, Trump moderated his unconditional reverence for the Russian strongman in an interview with Reuters, just as he faced his biggest crisis: the attempted rebellion of Yevgeny Prigozhin and his mercenaries. He said Putin was “a little weakened” and that now was the best time to move forward with negotiations, after giving the Ukrainians credit for the struggle they are waging, but that they would have to make concessions. “I think they have the right to keep a lot of what they’ve acquired, and I think Russia agrees with that as well. You need the right mediator or negotiator, and we don’t have that right now.”

Two weeks later, Trump presented himself as the right negotiator in an interview with Fox News. This is because, instead of Biden, who “has no idea what is going on,” international leaders like Putin are “cunning, tough and generally cruel. They are cruel and at their best,” he claimed. And to bring peace to Ukraine within 24 hours, Trump explained his plan: “I know Zelensky very well and I know Putin very well, even better. And I had a good relationship, very good, with both of them. Zelensky: ‘Enough is enough.’ You have to make a deal.” I would say to Putin, “If you don’t make a deal, we will give you [a Zelensky] terribly. Let’s go [dar à Ucrânia] more than you’ve ever received, if necessary. I’ll make the deal in one day. One day,” Trump responded.

He met with Kim Jong Un three times during the Republican presidency, but nothing came of the initiative to resolve the nuclear threat on the Korean Peninsula. Now on Russian soil, the third will meet Kim Putin to conclude an agreement that will raise hopes that the North Korean regime will develop its satellite and nuclear submarine program. The meeting was to take place at the Vostochny cosmodrome, which replaced the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Armored train, slow and luxurious

The train is not Kim Jong-un’s exclusive mode of transportation when he travels abroad, as his father Jong-il did, but it is undoubtedly his favorite. In addition to the green color, the train stands out because it is armored and has many carriages – 21, according to the latest information, but it had as many as 90, some of them for the transport of armored cars – which explains its low speed. According to Reuters, the speed on North Korean lines does not exceed 45 kilometers per hour, other sources indicate that the maximum speed is 90 km/h.

From the few images of the interior it is known that carriages were equipped with long tables and monitors, and at least one with red leather armchairs. According to the account of Russian diplomat Konstantin Pulikovsky in the book Orient ExpressFrom Kim Jong-il’s trip to Moscow, there was no shortage of luxury in the compositions: live lobsters, boxes of French wines and “beautiful train drivers”.

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