Russia Resumes Direct Flights to North Korea, Deepening Strategic Ties
Russia has resumed direct commercial flights between Moscow and Pyongyang for the first time in decades, signaling closer ties with the isolated regime of Kim Jong Un.
The Gaze reports this, referring to Bloomberg.
A Nordwind Airlines Boeing 777 landed at Pyongyang International Airport on the morning of July 28 after departing Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport the previous evening.
Russia’s aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, approved the monthly Moscow–Pyongyang route in early July. Tickets are priced at around 45,000 rubles (approximately $510).
In parallel, Russian airline Nordwind is expected to maintain the monthly flights, complementing existing air services operated by North Korea’s Air Koryo between Pyongyang and Russia’s Far Eastern city of Vladivostok.
The move comes as Moscow increasingly leans on Pyongyang for military supplies in its brutal war of aggression against Ukraine.
The two authoritarian regimes signed a military cooperation treaty last year, cementing what Russia calls a “strategic partnership,” which critics describe as a dangerous alliance of two pariah states.
Ukraine and Western intelligence agencies estimate that North Korea now supplies up to 40% of the ammunition Russia uses in its war, including artillery shells and rockets.
In addition to aviation links, Russia and North Korea plan to restart maritime transport routes to further expand trade and logistical cooperation.
Read more on The Gaze: How does North Korea Actually Help Russia in Its War Against Ukraine?