With thousands of North Korean troops deployed to defend Kursk, Russia insists it remains self-sufficient in ensuring national security—despite mounting casualties in Ukraine.

When leaders from NATO's 32 countries gather for a summit in The Hague next week, most want to send a clear message: Russia is the main threat to their alliance. Ahead of the Hague gathering, diplomats at NATO have been wrangling over a five-paragraph summit statement,

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that NATO's push to ramp up defence spending was not a "threat" to Russia, days before the alliance was set to sign-off on a plan to boost its military capacity across Europe.