Putin says Russia, North Korea ‘will not tolerate language of blackmail’

Russian President Vladimir Putin said heavily sanctioned Russia and North Korea will not tolerate Western “blackmail” as he visited Pyongyang on Wednesday, more than two years into Moscow’s Ukraine offensive.

“Russia and Korea have an independent foreign policy and do not tolerate the language of blackmail and dictat,” Putin said. “We will continue to counter the practise of sanctions strangling as an instrument that the West has grown used to using with the aim of keeping its hegemony in politics, economics and other spheres.”