Eagles and pythons heading to North Korea: Putin strengthens ties with Kim Jong-un through remarkable ‘animal diplomacy’ | War Ukraine and Russia

The promised donation of more than 40 animals to the Pyongyang Zoo comes as the two countries significantly expand their political and military cooperation.

While the supply of weapons is said to be part of a deal in exchange for food and Russian expertise, the donation of the animals is being interpreted as a diplomatic gesture, writes ‘The Telegraph’.

Anthony Rinna, an expert on North Korea-Russia relations, told ‘NK News’ that the donation could be their way of “emulating China’s panda diplomacy.” In addition, Beijing is lending its famous pandas to zoos around the world to strengthen bilateral diplomatic ties as part of its global soft power strategy.

Rinna suspected that Russia may not have donated larger animals out of concern about poor living conditions at the North Korean zoo.

When the zoo opened in 2016, one of the main attractions was Azalea, a 19-year-old chimpanzee who had been trained to smoke a pack of cigarettes a day.

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