North Korea Unveils First 'Nuclear-Powered' Sub As Kim Tells Putin Their Nations Are "Sharing Blood, Life & Death In Same Trench"

North Korea Unveils First 'Nuclear-Powered' Sub As Kim Tells Putin Their Nations Are "Sharing Blood, Life & Death In Same Trench"

One big geopolitical trend of the last year and beyond connected with the Ukraine war has been just how open North Korea and Russia have been about their deepening defense relations.

At the start, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un taking the high risk and controversial step of sending thousands of his DPRK troops to assist Russia was initially kept a secret, with little details made public.

Soon, international press reported at least 10,000 North Korean troops helping Russia, mostly in the Kursk border area.

But the last year saw North Korea go so far as to publish footage of North Koreans coming home from the Ukraine war in flag-draped coffins.

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Kim Jong Un said Saturday that his country and Russia had bonded through "blood, life and death" during the war in Ukraine, as he delivered New Year's greetings to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In his message released by the state-run KCNA news agency, Kim described 2025 as a "really meaningful year" for the partnership between the two countries, saying their alliance had been strengthened by “sharing blood, life and death in the same trench."

It was only last April that North Korea publicly acknowledged for the first time it had deployed troops to assist Russia’s military operations in Ukraine and confirmed that some of its soldiers had died in combat. However, this had been an 'open secret' for much of the year even prior to that.

Earlier this month, Pyongyang also admitted it had sent personnel to remove land mines in Russia's Kursk region in August 2025. Kim said at least nine members of an engineering regiment were killed during the 120-day mission, speaking at a Dec. 12 ceremony marking the unit’s return home.

Putin too has praised the North Korean soldiers for being especially instrumental in pushing back the short-lived Ukrainian occupation of southern Kurks oblast, in a brazen cross-border operation which lasted for months.

Kim’s New Year's message to Putin came a day after he ordered officials to ramp up missile production. The world can expect more provocative missile tests from Pyongyang this year.

Putin's travel in 2025 focused on non-Western and BRICS and non-aligned countries, some of which the West would call 'rogue states'. But it also crucially included the Alaska Summit with President Donald Trump - the single biggest and most surprising trip since the Ukraine war's start...

🤝Hands Russian President Putin shook in 2025

This year saw truly historic meetings between Putin and global leaders, including:

🇺🇸 Donald Trump

🇨🇳 Xi Jinping

🇰🇵 Kim Jong-un

🇮🇳 Narendra Modi

🇮🇷 Masoud Pezeshkian

Incredibly thankful for all of you that support my work, moments like these I’m forever grateful for.

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Key Bolsonaro Ally Caught In Neighboring Paraguay After Fleeing House Arrest

Key Bolsonaro Ally Caught In Neighboring Paraguay After Fleeing House Arrest

Brazilian authorities are really going after some of the loyalists of imprisoned ex-President Jair Bolsonaro. In the latest, a former Brazilian police chief who fled the country after being convicted for his role in an alleged "attempted coup" linked to Bolsonaro has been arrested in Paraguay.

Silvinei Vasques was detained Friday at Silvio Pettirossi International Airport in Asunción, Paraguay authorities confirmed in a statement. He was detained charges of "identity theft" after trying to bypass immigration checks by posing as a Paraguayan citizen.

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He was trying to board a flight to Panama, claiming El Salvador as his final destination. Apparently he didn't enter Paraguay legally, but entered "clandestinely" while "evading justice in his home country."

Vasques as a powerful former police official in Brazil was accused of ordering highway patrol officers to block voters in left-leaning regions during the 2022 election, which Bolsonaro eventually lost to current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

He was arrested in 2023 and released under supervision with an electronic ankle monitor while awaiting trial. His legal proceedings have been running simultaneously to the more high profile Bolsonaro case.

At the conclusion of his trial, Vasques was sentenced to more than two years in prison to be served under house arrest, after which he fled the country. Regional reports indicated that he broke his ankle monitor and drove into Paraguay.

But he apparently made a break for it after on Friday Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the former police chief's preventive detention as a precaution.

Other alleged co-conspirators who are allies of Bolsonaro have also fled. One notable one is former intelligence agency director Alexandre Ramagem, who earlier left Brazil in September and has since been living in the United States.

Fake passports found on 'wanted' ex highway police chief as he was trying to make it to El Salvador...

El exdirector de la Policía de Tránsito Federal brasileña, Silvinei Vasques, llega a Brasil tras ser entregado por las autoridades paraguayas.

Mientras se define el futuro de Úbeda, la nueva baja que sufrió Boca

Después de pasar por Quilmes, donde también estuvo a préstamo, se marcha del Xeneize para continuar con su carrera por la Primera Nacional.