Russia state-television host Vladimir Solovyov, a vocal ally of the Kremlin, praised Russia and North Korea’s new strategic partnership on the air and warned that “thanks to our technologies, the territory of the United States is under threat.”
Solovyov, called a propagandist who previously had been under international sanctions, made the comments on Russia’s Channel-1. A video of his comments was posted on Thursday by Russian Media Monitor, a watchdog group founded by journalist Julia Davis.
“This new level of relations between Russia and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, is a direct threat, not only to Japan and South Korea, but also to the territory of the United States,” Solovyov said.
Tensions are rising between the neighboring South and North Korea, and on Friday, South Korea summoned the Russian ambassador to protest the Kremlin’s new defense pact with Pyongyang. There are reportedly vague threats from North Korea seeking retaliation over South Korean activists flying thousands of anti-North Korea leaflets across the shared border.
On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a treated pledging mutual military assistance in the event of an attack. According to the treaty text published by North Korean state media, the pact says that in an event of an invasion of Russia or North Korea, the other party “shall provide military and other assistance with all means in its possession without delay.”
Solovyov, who has supported Putin’s war in Ukraine, said on television: “In the event of aggression, countries may come to each other’s aid—let me remind you, we’re currently facing aggression. Let me remind you that military actions are taking place on our constitutional territories in the regions of Kherson, Zaporizhzhya, Donetsk and partially, Luhansk.” Solovyov’s comments are controversial as those cities are in Ukraine.
The U.S. is a close ally of Ukraine and has condemned the invasion, believing it’s an attack on Ukrainian sovereignty. Since Putin started the war on February 24, 2022, Congress has passed five bills totaling $175 billion in aid to Kiev, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. Much of the aid is for military support—weapons, training and intelligence.
“If I understand it correctly, thanks to our technologies, the territory of the United States is under threat,” Solovyov said.
According to a 2024 report by the Federation of American Scientists, Russia has the world’s largest inventory of nuclear warheads, estimated at roughly 5,580, and North Korea is estimated to have about 50 nuclear weapons.
“This is an epic defeat of America’s political elite,” he said of the pact, and then urged China “to join the family of nations that is fighting against colonialism.”
In a phone interview with Newsweek, Edward Verona, nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, emphasized skepticism toward Russian public media for reliable analysis.
“You can’t rely on what you’re hearing on Russia public media for any sort of serious analysis,” Verona said. “Anything that gets covered by Russian TV has to be seen from the perspective that they are talking to a domestic audience, which does not have access by and large [unless they have access to VPN] to outside information. It’s used to bolster domestic support.”
