Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency has offered Russian airlines to start regular flights to North Korea, the latest sign of growing ties between the two countries, Russian Kommersant newspaper reported on November 20. Independent Kyiv.

The agency sent the proposal to the leading Russian airlines Aeroflot and Aurora, which confirmed that they are “theoretically ready.”

“Taking into account the new foreign policy realities, Russia is forming new partnerships, the construction and development of which are not very comfortable without direct flights from Moscow,” said Oleg Panteleev, head of Aviaport, Kommersant writes.

The current main way to get to North Korea by air from Russia is from the far eastern Russian city of Vladivostok with the North Korean state airline Air Koryo, which has only two scheduled flights a week.

Experts cited by Kommersant believe that the proposed flights will be mainly commercial in nature, but add that a small increase in tourism is also possible. Tour operators who organized tours to North Korea did not receive similar offers to resume tours.

Flights from Russia to North Korea were suspended in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Vladivostok-Pyongyang flights were resumed in August 2023.

Before the pandemic, regular tourism took place only with official tour operators. The businessman notes that such trips are rare, usually a group of 10-15 people every six months.

At the moment, the proposed flights between Moscow and Pyongyang will still have a stopover in Vladivostok, although there is the possibility of direct flights between the capitals in the future.

However, it is unlikely that the volume of transportation between Moscow and Pyongyang will exceed several thousand people per year, an anonymous source told Kommersant.

Several Western voices have criticized the arms trade between Russia and North Korea, but senior officials in the two countries have flatly denied that such a thing exists.

On October 13, the White House accused Pyongyang of supplying Russia with weapons, calling it a disturbing development.

Images of North Korean munitions appeared online on October 21, a day when Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov calmly said that US claims that Moscow receives military aid from North Korea were just “rumors”.

However, while attending a reception in Pyongyang, Lavrov said that Moscow “deeply” appreciates North Korea’s “unwavering and principled” support for Russia’s “special operation” in Ukraine.