Russian Federation Frightened By Seoul's Joining Arms Purchases For Ukraine

• 22.02.2026, 1:00

The Kremlin has decided to move on to threats.

Russia was apparently spooked by the prospect of Seoul joining NATO's PURL program to finance the purchase of American arms for the Ukrainian army, after which the aggressor country moved on to threatening the South Korean side, writes dialog.ua.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Russia is ready to take "retaliatory asymmetric measures" in case South Korea joins the aforementioned program. Her statement is quoted by the official resources of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Zakharova said Seoul's participation in such programs, regardless of whether it will be direct or indirect, "distances the prospects for conflict resolution."

She added that in such a case, Russia reserves the right to "retaliatory actions," including measures of an "asymmetric nature, "2 but did not specify what they were about.

The day before, South Korean media, citing diplomatic sources, reported that Seoul was considering various options to support Kiev. Among the mechanisms under discussion is a possible involvement in the PURL initiative, which envisages the purchase of weapons from the United States for further transfer to the Ukrainian side.

After the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, South Korea officially provided Kiev with humanitarian and other non-lethal support. At the same time, North Korea sent its military personnel to the Russian occupation army to participate in combat operations against Ukraine, as well as supplied Russia with ammunition, missiles and military equipment.