The roughly 12,000 North Korean troops who are said to be training at these Russian bases represent the first wave of many, says the NIS, to join the Vladimir Putin regime in its efforts to take back land currently known as Ukraine.

North Korea is reportedly so committed to Putin's cause that it is sending members of its special forces division to train alongside Russian troops for the much larger military melee soon to come.

"The suspicions of 'direct military cooperation between Russia and North Korea' raised by foreign media outlets have been officially confirmed," the NIS said in a statement.

"We will continue to track and confirm the movement of military cooperation between Russia and North Korea through close intelligence cooperation with allied countries."

(Related: Back in June, we reported that North Korea has already begun sending troops to Ukraine in anticipation of World War III.)

Ukrainian spy boss says North Korean troops currently in Russia will be ready to fight by November 1

The NIS announcement and imagery came just one day after Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Ukrainian Defense Intelligence Directorate (GUR), told the media that nearly 11,800 of the North Korean troops currently training in Russia will be ready to fight by November 1.

The NIS released its own statement confirming that North Korean soldiers are, in fact, "stationed at Russian military bases in the Far East, including Vladivostok, Ussuriysk, Khabarovsk, and Blagoveshchensk."

All of the North Korean troops currently training in Russia "are expected to be deployed to the front lines as soon as they complete their adaptation training," the NIS further revealed, noting that all four of the aforementioned bases are located about 4,000 miles east of Ukraine.

The images released by NIS claim to show at least 400 North Korean troops training at Ussuriysk and another 240 or so at Khabarovsk.

When the NIS first started observing North Korean troops training in Russia back in early August, one of its first detections was of First Vice Director of the Munitions Industry Department of North Korea Kim Jong-sik "visiting the North Korean KN-23 missile launch site near the Russia-Ukraine frontline several times with dozens of North Korean military officers and providing on-site guidance. Jong-sik, by the way, is described as "a key figure in North Korea's missile development."

Since that time, the NIS has "closely monitored" the movements of the North Korean military, having detected the country "transporting its special forces to Russia via Russian naval transport ships from [Aug] 8th to the 13th, confirming the start of the North Korean military's participation in the war."

In order to move these troops, the Russian Navy had to enter North Korean waters, marking the first time this has happened since 1900.

"... four landing ships and three escort ships belonging to the Russian Pacific Fleet completed the first transfer of approximately 1,500 North Korean special forces from the areas near Chongjin, Hamhung, and Musudan to Vladivostok, Russia during the same period, and a second transport operation is expected to take place soon," the NIS said.

Boasting more than 120,000 troops in total, North Korea currently has the world's largest special operations forces. These forces have five basic missions: conducting reconnaissance; performing combat operations in partnership with conventional operations; establishing a second front in South Korea's rear areas; countering South Korean and U.S. special operations forces in North Korea's rear area; and maintaining internal security."

More related news coverage can be found at WWIII.news.

Sources for this article include:

TWZ.com

NaturalNews.com