WASHINGTON, July 11. /TASS/. NATO claims that Russia’s military cooperation with North Korea and Iran affect Euro-Atlantic security, according to the final declaration of the NATO summit in Washington.
The declaration accuses North Korea and Iran of "fuelling Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine by providing direct military support to Russia." According to NATO members, this is "affecting Euro-Atlantic security and NATO is keeping a close eye on the deepening ties between Russia and these countries with concern.
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has repeatedly stressed that the West’s allegations that Russia is illegally developing military-technical cooperation with North Korea are absolutely groundless. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov slammed Washington’s allegations that Pyongyang is extending military assistance to Moscow as rumors.
Moscow and Tehran keep on refuting reports that Iran supplies drones to Russia, which uses them in Ukraine. Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov slammed such reports as fakes and stressed that the Russian army is using only Russian-made unmanned aerial vehicles. Iran’s then Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said in November 2022 that his country had supplied a small batch of drones to Russia several months before the beginning of the special military operation.