Moscow warns Seoul against arms supplies to Ukraine

Moscow: Russia on Saturday warned South Korea against arms supplies to Ukraine under a NATO-sponsored programme as the war between the two powerful republics of the former USSR is about to complete four years soon.

“We would like to emphasise again that a possible participation of the Republic of Korea in such supplies in any form, direct or indirect, only postpones the prospects for a settlement of the conflict,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said.

She warned that Moscow will be forced to take retaliatory measures, including asymmetric ones, if Seoul participates in the PURL (Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List) programme.

NATO established the PURL programme in 2025  in response to a US decision to stop providing weapons to Ukraine for free. Under the programme, Kyiv formulates its military needs, while the EU allocates funds, purchases the weapons from the United States and provides them to Ukraine for free.  “This will undoubtedly cause irreparable damage to the relations between Russia and the Republic of Korea and destroy the prospects for restoring a constructive dialogue on the Korean peninsula. In this case, we will be forced to use the right to retaliate, including asymmetric measures,” Zakharova added.

  Zakharova noted that Moscow was surprised to hear reports about Seoul’s possible participation in this programme, since such steps would be at odds with the country’s official line of non-participation.   She noted that on several occasions, South Korean officials had repeatedly said this, and Moscow appreciates this approach, considering it as a necessary basis for keeping Russian-South Korean relations from further collapse and prerequisites for the future restoration of a bilateral dialogue and cooperation.

 Even as peace talks with Ukraine, with the US mediation, continue, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is reported to have presented his three-year plan to fight Russia and take back lost territories. 

Moscow, which launched its special military operation on February 24, 2022, has dim hopes of a peace agreement as the so-called Coalition of Willing of the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Poland have reiterated their continued backing for Ukraine and want the Kremlin’s strategic defeat.