The Russian president Vladimir Putin said today that he does not rule out the possibility of sending weapons to North Koreawhile warning South Korea that it would be a “very serious mistake” to send military aid to Ukraine.

The Kremlin strongman had recently threatened that Russia would transfer weapons to other countries in response to the West’s military aid to Ukraine and the “green light” given to Kiev to use Western weapons in attacks on Russian soil. .

At a press conference in Vietnam, President Putin said that North Korea could receive Russian weapons systems. “We reserve the right to supply arms to other parts of the world,” he said. Considering the cooperation agreements with Pyongyang, “I don’t rule out that possibility,” he noted.

He also warned Seoul that it would be making a “very serious mistake” if it sent military aid to Ukraine. “I hope something like this doesn’t happen. If it happens, then we will take the appropriate decisions, which probably would not please the South Korean leadership.”

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller described Russian President Vladimir Putin’s reference to a possible arms delivery to North Korea as “extremely troubling”, stressing that such a move “would destabilize the Korean peninsula”.