The train crossed the border from North Korea into Russia on Friday, two days after the United States said it had information indicating Pyongyang was secretly supplying Russia with artillery shells for its war in Ukraine. This was reported by the Washington think tank 38 North, referring to commercial satellite images, writes Reuters.
Project 38 North, which monitors events in North Korea, said it was the first such train movement on the route in several years, although Russia's veterinary service said on Wednesday that the train had crossed the border into North Korea carrying horses.
"It is not possible to determine the purpose of the train from the images, but the crossing comes amid reports of arms sales from North Korea to Russia and general expectations of a resumption of trade between the two countries," 38 North said in a statement.
According to him, North Korea closed the 800-meter Tumangan Friendship Bridge (Korea-Russian Friendship Bridge), the only land link between the countries, in February 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The message says that at 10:24 local time (01:24 GMT) three wagons were visible on the Korean side of the border, and at 13:10 local time (04:10 GMT) they were on Russian territory behind the locomotive . , about 200 meters from the end of the railway bridge.
At 2:29 p.m., a locomotive and three carriages were seen on the tracks at the Russian Hasan station, about 2 km from the border, and three smaller covered carriages, or possibly containers on platforms, were parked alongside an arriving train on a nearby track.
We will remind, on November 2, it became known that the United States accuses North Korea of secretly supplying Russia with a significant amount of artillery shells for use in the war in Ukraine and trying to hide these supplies.
According to intelligence, the munitions are allegedly going to countries in the Middle East or North Africa, but are actually destined for Russia.