Russian President Vladimir Putin knows he has a problem, according to Forbes. The war in Ukraine is costing Russia roughly $290 billion a year, the magazine reported, and Russia is losing about 30,000 troops a month.
Forbes said Russia's offensive has not just stalled but is receding in some areas, while the Russian population is increasingly feeling the strain of the war. The magazine pointed to Ukrainian drone strikes in July on an oil terminal in St Petersburg and a nearby port, as well as Russia's decision at the end of 2025 to raise value-added tax to 22 percent. Food prices in Russia rose a further 18 percent in 2026, according to the report.
Russia's reliance on North Korea
Forbes said Putin has grown so desperate that he has turned to troops from North Korea, one of the poorest countries in the world. South Korea's Defense Intelligence Agency estimates that North Korea has sent more than 16,000 troops to Russia since October 2024 and supplied more than 15 million artillery shells. Pyongyang has also given Russia dozens of KN-23 and KN-24 missiles, the report said.
Ukraine has suggested that as many as 50,000 more North Korean soldiers could eventually be deployed, a claim Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, dismissed as "absolutely groundless." Forbes reported that over the past 18 months there have been 23 high-level visits involving ministers between Russia and North Korea, compared with just eight between China and North Korea.
Beijing's concerns over the alliance
According to Forbes, China's main worry is that deepening ties between Russia and North Korea could fuel regional instability and damage China's global reputation. The magazine said Chinese leader Xi Jinping is also concerned that the closer bond between Putin and Kim Jong Un will reduce his own influence over Pyongyang.
Official and academic sources in China stressed that Beijing has no interest in forming a tight three-way military alliance involving China, North Korea and Russia. Forbes said China accepts that expanding cooperation between Russia and North Korea increases pressure on the United States and its Western allies, but Beijing still does not want a formal trilateral pact that would constrain its own strategic goals.
A transactional relationship
Forbes argued that Russia's relationship with North Korea is essentially transactional. North Korea has always been willing to help when Russia needed it, the magazine said, but the relationship has not been mutual.
In 2014, North Korea was one of the few countries to recognize Russia's annexation of Crimea, hoping for economic benefits in return that never materialized, according to the report. Bilateral trade between North Korea and Russia remained very limited, standing at just $42 million in 2020, when North Korea ranked 139th among Russia's trading partners.
Forbes said North Korea now earns between $7.7 billion and $14.4 billion from arms sales and the deployment of its troops on Russian territory. North Korea has also benefited from Russian transfers of sensitive technology, including naval reactors for submarines, air defense systems and drone technology, and could gain access through Russia to autonomous drones equipped with artificial intelligence and jet engines.
Forbes said this growing access to weapons technology worries China because it could embolden North Korea and add to regional instability. Russian assistance has accelerated North Korea's nuclear and space programs, the magazine said, giving Kim Jong Un greater confidence. China is also concerned that a bolder North Korea could push the United States, South Korea and Japan toward closer security cooperation, and even prompt South Korea and Japan to pursue nuclear weapons.
China's uneasy history with North Korea
Forbes said the historical relationship between China and North Korea has always been marked by competition, tension, contempt and deep distrust rather than mutual respect. Beijing wants greater stability in North Korea but not necessarily a stronger North Korea, the magazine said, describing Pyongyang at best as an unruly younger brother incapable of sound judgment.
Forbes noted that social media posts show the Chinese public displaying open hostility toward North Korea, viewing it as an ungrateful troublemaker. Attitudes toward Russia are strikingly different, with users on Chinese social media voicing strong support for Russia in the war in Ukraine, declaring that Russia must win. Forbes said Chinese media portray Putin as wise, kind and invincible, while the Russian people are described as courageous and worthy of respect.
Even so, Forbes said Moscow's warm relations with Pyongyang appear to be largely a marriage of convenience, and ordinary Russians do not feel particular affection for North Korea. For China, the magazine concluded, the rapidly developing ties between North Korea and Russia present more challenges than opportunities: as Moscow deepens its military and strategic links with Pyongyang, Beijing risks losing some of its influence over North Korea while facing an increasingly unpredictable neighbor on its border.
Related developments
UNIAN previously reported comments from Glen Howard, president and chairman of the Saratoga Foundation, who said North Korea is involved in Russia's war against Ukraine on an unprecedented scale. Howard said the alliance is effectively erasing the line between European and Asian security, and criticized American politicians who have called for the United States to focus mainly on China while pushing Europe down the list of priorities, arguing that the two theaters of conflict can no longer be treated separately.
UNIAN also reported that South Korea's permanent representative to the United Nations told a UN General Assembly session that military cooperation between Russia and North Korea, particularly the transfer of ballistic missiles and troops, is prolonging the war in Ukraine and violates UN Security Council resolutions. He said South Korea is seriously concerned about the military cooperation between Russia and North Korea, citing the transfer of weapons including ballistic missiles, troop deployments and other factors extending the war that Russia started.
