A Russian passenger jet landed at North Korea’s main airport Monday, a flight tracking site showed, completing the first commercial leg in decades between capitals of the allied countries.
Russia and North Korea have pulled closer in the last year, with Pyongyang sending weapons and troops to aid Moscow’s war in Ukraine — likely in exchange for technical assistance, experts say.
Tracking site Flight Aware showed Russia’s Nordwind Airlines’ Boeing 777 landing in Pyongyang at 09:15 am (GMT 00:15).
“This is a historical event, strengthening the ties between our nations,” Oleg, a Nordwind employee on the flight who did not give his full name, told AFP at the airport in Moscow Sunday.
A video posted on Russian news agency RIA Novosti’s Telegram account showed North Korean officials and flight attendants welcoming the Russian passengers with flowers at Pyongyang’s international airport.
One North Korean official is seen checking the temperatures of the disembarking Russians with an electronic thermometer.
Russia’s Minister of Natural Resources Alexander Kozlov was among those on the inaugural flight, RIA Novosti said on Telegram.
Nordwind Airlines — which used to carry Russians to holiday destinations in Europe before the EU imposed a ban on Russian flights — had tickets priced at 45,000 rubles ($570) for the route.
Russia previously announced the Moscow-Pyongyang route would be serviced once per month.
The two heavily sanctioned nations signed a military deal last year, including a mutual defence clause, during a rare visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to Pyongyang.
South Korean and Western intelligence agencies have said Pyongyang sent more than 10,000 soldiers to Russia’s Kursk region last year, along with artillery shells, missiles and long-range rocket systems.
Around 600 North Korean soldiers have been killed and thousands more wounded fighting for Russia, according to Seoul.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un offered Moscow his full support for its war in Ukraine during recent talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, state media reported.
Russia’s state news agency TASS reported that the first return flight from Pyongyang to Moscow would take place on Tuesday.
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