Three Countries (Including Lukashenka's Belarus) Helped Russia In War

What did Moscow get from them?

Amid reports of Iran supplying Russia with Fath-360 ballistic missiles, it is worth remembering what weapons Iran and the DPRK have been helping Russian troops with over the years.

Although the first country to provide Moscow with military-technical assistance was Belarus. Ukrainian military expert Oleksandr Kovalenko writes about this on “Obozrevatel”.

Belarus

In 2022, during the failed “rapid seizure of Ukraine”, the Russian Federation very quickly began to feel an acute shortage of ammunition and equipment — due to the military-industrial complex not being launched at full capacity.

It was Belarus that became the first country that not only directly contributed to the invasion of Ukraine from its territory, but also launched supplies of shells and equipment to Russia.

In particular, the Republic of Belarus leadership opened access for Russian troops to warehouses 1405, 1398, 1886 and 25, 43, 46 storage arsenals. This allowed Russia to remove more than 70 thousand tons of ammunition, as well as military equipment, from the territory of the Republic of Belarus in 2022.

In particular, Russian troops removed at least 100 T-72As from the 969th tank reserve base, self-propelled guns “Akatsiya”, S9 “Nona-S”, howitzers D-20, D-30, “Msta-B” and others from the 1868th arsenal of the artillery weapons base in Homel, and more than fifty “KAMAZ” and “Ural” trucks removed from storage from the 288th reserve base of automotive equipment.

It was Belarus that helped Russia, at a critical moment of growing deficit, to compensate for losses in Ukraine and bring the military-industrial complex into working order — without a much more global failure on the front than could have been.

Iran

After Belarus, the second country to become a supplier of weapons to Russia is Iran. True, this country is mainly remembered as a supplier of Shahed-136 kamikaze drones, although Tehran has not only been transferring them to Moscow since 2022.

To date, the following Iranian-made military goods are known to be received by Russia:

UAVs: Mohajer-6, Shahed-131, Shahed-136

Air bombs: Ghaem-5

Helmets: NIJ II

Body armor: Rouin-3

ATGM: Dehlaviyeh

Rounds: 152 mm for D-20, 130 mm for M-46, 122 mm for D-30

MLRS: 122 mm shells

Russian troops began actively using Iranian ammunition in late 2022 - early 2023. It was this component of the combat kit that allowed Russian troops to cope with the shortage of shells in the combat zone at the end of 2022, but they were not able to completely solve the problem of the shortage of shells.

And in 2023, efforts to persuade North Korea to side with Russia in matters of military-technical cooperation were significantly increased.

DPRK

In 2023, Moscow held a number of official and unofficial meetings with Pyongyang on the issue of ammunition supplies. After the main provisions of future military-technical cooperation were agreed upon in July last year, then-Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu went to the DPRK to conduct the first stage of negotiations.

Full coordination of cooperation issues was carried out during the meeting between Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin in September 2023 in the Amur Region.

Almost immediately, deliveries of the corresponding products to Russia began — Soviet-caliber ammunition.

Deliveries to Russia from the DPRK were carried out by sea, container ships. According to South Korean intelligence, the first wave of deliveries consisted of 5,000 40-foot containers, which could correspond to up to 1 million 152-mm shells with powder charges or up to 2-2.5 million rounds of 152-mm, 122-mm, 120-mm, etc. ammunition.

But it is worth noting that since 2023, much more North Korean-made ammunition has been verified in the combat zone in Ukraine.

First of all, 152-mm and 122-mm artillery rounds for barrel artillery were delivered to the combat zone. The first verification of these rounds was noted in October 2023. A little later, 122-mm rockets for the BM-21 Grad MLRS were verified.

Also, the Russian occupation forces received a large number of 120-mm mines, which made it possible to provide mortar units with ammunition.

In January, the delivery of KN-23 ballistic missiles from the DPRK to Russia, which are an exact copy of the Russian 9M723 Iskander OTRK, was confirmed. Unfortunately, the confirmation was the result of a missile strike on Kharkiv.

In early 2024, South Korean intelligence warned of the resumption of North Korean deliveries to Russia and announced the shipment of 10,000 containers, or about 5 million rounds of ammunition.

In late winter — early spring 2024, Russian troops began to be armed with North Korean 130-mm artillery shells for Soviet M-46 corps artillery guns. These guns have a longer firing range compared to most Russian occupiers’ artillery and are used as a counter-battery weapon.

It is worth noting that Iran and the DPRK are among the largest operators of the M-46 and have both 130-mm production and a sufficient number of them in stock.

Recently, there has also been information that North Korea could have transferred a batch of the Bulsae-5 anti-tank missile system to Russia.

It was created on the basis of the Russian Kornet ATGM. At present, it is quite difficult to confirm that the Russian army has received these systems, but it is worth noting that recently the Russian occupation forces have indeed experienced an acute shortage in terms of providing units with the anti-tank missile system...

Today, Russia has two most stable partners in matters of military-technical cooperation — Iran and the DPRK. These countries mainly transfer ammunition to Russia, avoiding the transfer of equipment, for which Moscow has also requested Tehran and Pyongyang.

The only country that has supplied Russia with military equipment was and still remains Belarus. Although this fact does not at all exclude the possibility that in the future Russia will still be able to receive batches of military equipment from Iran and the DPRK due to the reduction of its own in warehouses and the inevitable depletion of the potential of its troops in terms of providing main battle tanks and combat armored vehicles.

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