Over the past two months, Russian ships have repeatedly picked up cargo from North Korea and delivered it to a Russian military port, new satellite images published on Oct. 16 by U.S. newspaper the Washington Post show.
The photos were analyzed by the London-based Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies or RUSI. Since August, when Moscow and Pyongyang intensified their high-level contacts, there have been no records of either of the two ships, the Angara and the Maria, or their passage along this route
On Oct. 13, the White House said that North Korea had transported up to 1,000 containers with “equipment and munitions to Russia in recent weeks,” WP writes. However, according to the analysis, the operation is “more regular, extensive, and ongoing.
Analysts said the ships are traveling between the northeastern North Korean port of Rajin and a secure port complex in Dunai in Russia’s Far East. The vessels made at least five round trips between mid-August and Oct. 14.
Data from the Marine Traffic website indicates that the ships turned off the automatic identification system signal, concealing their location.
“Although it is impossible to tell what is being transported, the new images show ships linked to the Russian military logistics network, which strongly suggests these commercial vessels are carrying military equipment, RUSI analysts and U.S. officials say,” the article reads.
Around the time the supplies began, the munition pits at an ammunition depot in Tikhoretsk, near the Ukrainian border, began to expand rapidly. They were filled in the weeks following the arrival of the railroad cars. RUSI concluded that the color and size of the containers matched those of the ship cargoes.
Earlier, U.S. analysts wrote that after Russian President Vladimir Putin met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Sept. 13, the latter sharply increased cargo transportation to Russia.
Pyongyang was reportedly supplying artillery rounds and Katyusha-type rockets to Moscow.
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