Putin meets Kim, praises North Korean troops in Russia

Putin Meets Kim: From Valletta Balconies to Vladivostok – What the Russia-North Korea Pact Means for Malta

By a Hot Malta correspondent | Valletta

On a balmy Mediterranean evening, while elderly men argued over ċisk and ħobż biż-żejt in Strait Street and tourists queued for gelato beneath the honey-coloured bastions, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un were toasting each other 9,000 kilometres away in Russia’s Far East. The two leaders clinked crystal glasses to celebrate North Korean troops now fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine—an alliance that, at first glance, feels as distant from our limestone archipelago as the Sea of Okhotsk. Yet, in Malta’s tight-knit community, where every family still remembers ration cards and convoy sirens, the news landed with familiar shivers.

Local historian Dr Maria Micallef, sipping coffee outside Café Cordina, summed it up: “Malta knows what it means when empires shake hands. From the Great Siege to World War II, we’ve been somebody else’s strategic stepping-stone.” Her great-uncle served on the HMS Welshman in 1942; today’s headlines stir the same questions of neutrality, survival and sovereignty.

The Numbers Behind the Handshake
According to South Korean intelligence cited by the Kremlin-friendly TASS agency, at least 3,000 North Korean “volunteer artillerymen” have already reached Donetsk. Putin, speaking after an 11-course meal that reportedly featured Kamchatka crab and pheasant, thanked Kim for sending “true brothers in arms.” Western diplomats fear this is only the first wave of a 10,000-strong contingent—numbers that dwarf Malta’s entire Defence Force of 1,950 active personnel.

From the Grand Harbour to the Dardanelles
For Malta’s maritime sector, the strategic ripples are immediate. Russian and North Korean vessels will now coordinate more closely in the eastern Mediterranean, potentially affecting traffic through the Suez Canal—source of 30 % of our imported grain and 40 % of our fuel. “If naval tensions rise, insurance premiums spike,” warned Captain Luke Borg of the Malta Maritime Forum. “Every extra euro on freight ends up on the supermarket shelf in Birkirkara.”

The Falcon and the Kimchi
Malta’s tiny North Korean expat community—barely a dozen embassy staff and their families—kept a low profile yesterday. But at Marsaxlokk Sunday market, local curiosity was palpable. Fishmonger Raymond “il-Bahar” Spiteri joked about launching a new kimchi ftira fusion: “If Kim’s boys are coming west, maybe his cabbage comes too.” Behind the banter lies unease: Malta imports €1.2 million of Russian fertiliser annually; sanctions could slash that to zero, hitting farmers in Gozo hardest.

Community Impact: From Band Clubs to Bitcoin
In the hilltop village of Żebbuġ, band club president Etienne Bezzina has already noticed donations drying up. “Our Russian benefactor used to send €5,000 every feast of St Philip. This year—silence.” Meanwhile, crypto-savvy youths are tracking Bitcoin movements from Pyongyang’s Lazarus Group wallets, fearing fresh cyber-attacks like the 2019 BOV breach. “We learned then that distance is digital,” said blockchain lecturer Dr Anna Farrugia at the University of Malta.

Cultural Echoes Across the Strait
At St James Cavalier, curator Roderick Camilleri is planning an impromptu film series on divided peninsulas—Korea, Crimea, even Cyprus—to spark debate. “Art is our bastion now,” he said, standing beneath Caravaggio’s Beheading of St John, itself a relic of 17th-century power politics. Tickets sold out in two hours.

Conclusion: A Small Island, A Big World
As fireworks lit the sky over Floriana last night, few paused to think of tracer rounds over Donetsk. Yet Malta’s destiny has always been forged far beyond its shores—from the Phoenicians to NATO. Putin’s embrace of Kim is another chapter in that story, one that will reach our dinner tables, our fuel pumps and perhaps even our village feasts. In the words of 92-year-old war veteran Karmenu Vella, watching the display from his Sliema balcony: “The sea connects us, whether we like it or not. What happens in Vladivostok today shapes the price of bread in Valletta tomorrow.”