VLADIVOSTOK, Russia — President Vladimir Putin says he’s willing to share details with the United States about his summit on Thursday with Kim Jong Un, potentially raising Russia’s influence in the stalemated issue of North Korean denuclearization.
The two leaders’ first one-on-one did not indicate major changes in North Korea’s position: Putin said Kim is willing to give up nuclear weapons, but only if he gets ironclad security guarantees.
However, Putin said Kim urged him to explain the nuances of North Korea’s position to President Donald Trump.
Such an interlocutor role could be meaningful in light of Trump’s apparent admiration of the Russian leader.
Trump has said he “fell in love” with Kim, possibly indicating a proclivity to being swayed toward accommodation with the North Korean leader, although that declaration came before the Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi in February that collapsed in disagreement.
After Thursday’s summit in the Pacific port city of Vladivostok, about 75 miles from the North Korean border, Putin stressed that Moscow and Washington both want North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons.
But, he said, the security guarantees Kim demands in exchange should be underwritten by multiple countries, hinting at an arrangement like the six-nation talks Russia participated in until their collapse in 2009.
Putin later headed for a two-day trip to Beijing, where he said he will inform the Chinese leadership about the summit.
“And we will just as openly discuss this issue with the U.S. leadership,” Putin said. “There are no secrets. Russia’s position always has been transparent. There are no plots of any kind.”
Putin’s remarks reflect Kim’s growing frustration with Washington’s efforts to maintain “maximum pressure” until the North commits to denuclearization.
But his characterization of Kim’s comments also suggests there have been no major changes in North Korea’s basic position.
North Korea has all along contended that it needs its nuclear arsenal to defend itself against what it sees as U.S. hostility and wants concrete reassurances of its safety — including the removal of the American nuclear threat as an integral part of the denuclearization of the entire Korean Peninsula.
Trump has made clear that he is eager to work out a deal with North Korea and has already indicated that he thinks he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.
Russia’s involvement in the issue could bolster his confidence, though some analysts think Washington and Moscow are too far estranged.
“For Russia, I don’t think it will deliver any leverage with the U.S. simply because the relations between Russia and the United States are at such a low level,” said Vasily Kashin, a researcher at Russia’s Higher School of Economics.
It wasn’t immediately clear what other agreements the leaders might have struck.