Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an agreement on the mutual defense of Russia and North Korea, whose soldiers, according to sources from Kiev and Washington, are already ready to join the war against Ukrainian forces.
The agreement reached during Putin's visit to Pyongyang in June provides for reciprocal "immediate military assistance" in the event of an attack on one of those countries.
The upper house of the Russian parliament ratified the agreement on November 8, but it then had to be signed by the Russian president to enter into force.
On Saturday evening, the Kremlin published the law on the ratification of the agreement on its website.
The agreement formalizes a months-long deepening of security cooperation between the two countries, communist allies during the Cold War.
Russia and North Korea have grown closer since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The agreement also commits the two countries to international cooperation to counter Western sanctions and coordinate their positions at the UN.
Putin called the agreement a "revolutionary document" in June.
Citing intelligence reports, South Korea, Ukraine and the West say that North Korea has deployed around 10.000 troops in Russia, ready to fight against Ukraine in the Kursk region, where the Ukrainian army has seized part of Russian territory.
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