MARK GALEOTTI: Putin's visit to Kim Jong Un's North Korea marks a line in the sand. A new axis of pariah states is emerging

It was a welcome fit for a Tsar. Thousands of North Koreans cheering fanatically as Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un greeted Russia's President Vladimir Putin for his first visit to the hermit kingdom in 24 years.

'A Labour government led by a man with a history of being weak on immigration and the scrapping of the Rwanda scheme will be used as a selling point around the world. The smugglers will be rubbing their hands with glee if Labour win the election.'

An army of young children lined the red carpet in Pyongyang, waving Russian flags and beaming obligingly from ear to ear.

Others held aloft large portraits of the two dictators as the pair rolled past, waving from the sunroof of a blacked- out Mercedes.

We have become used to these farcical displays of idolatry inside North Korea.

But Putin's landmark visit to the authoritarian state this week marks a sinister shift in strategy for the Kremlin.

So what exactly do Putin and Kim really want from one another, and how does it affect our ever-more fragile peace?

A decade ago, Russia was a member of the G8 (now G7) alliance of major political nations. Putin had a seat at the top table of global diplomacy.

He courted Western alliances, allowing US military jets to use Russian airspace and even once suggesting that Russia might be open to joining Nato.

But all that has changed now. The moment Putin's war machine rolled into Ukraine on February 24, 2022, he knew full well the old alliances – to say nothing of uneasy friendships – were shattered.

O ver the past two years, Russia has become isolated to an extent not seen since the darkest days of the Cold War.

Putin needs new friends.

In the post-Soviet era, Russia has previously sought to keep North Korea at arm's length: friendly, but never over-familiar.

Now, however, Putin is on diplomatic manoeuvres as he seeks to build an axis of anti-Western pariah states around the world.

He has no choice.

Russia is in desperate need of munitions to continue waging its barbaric conflict in Ukraine.

Indeed, it appears as though North Korea has recently approved the delivery of a further five million artillery rounds to the Russian war machine, taking the total number of shells it has provided to around ten million.

In the short-term, for Ukrainians this means the relentless barrage is set to continue. Premonitions of peace talks aired last week at the Ukraine Peace Summit were, to my mind, premature.

In exchange, Russia is providing North Korea with millions of barrels of oil. Due to sanctions imposed by the West, Russia needs a market for its vast reserves of black gold – and Kim is a ready buyer.

But it's not just oil. North Korea also needs food to feed its invariably hungry population.

Outside of major cities, millions of North Koreans live in abject food poverty and Kim, the obese leader, knows that an army marches on its stomach.

If North Korea is preparing for war – indeed, technically it remains in a state of conflict against its southern neighbour – it needs to feed its people first.

Russia suffered a relatively poor harvest this year due to inclement weather and a shortage of labourers, with many drafted to the front line.

But that hasn't stopped Putin sending grain to North Korea by the boatload.

The question is: where does this new-found friendship go next?

The US is particularly concerned that Russia will begin sharing nuclear-missile technology with North Korea.

In 2003, former leader Kim Jong Il – known as The General – withdrew from the global nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Since then, his bellicose son has rapidly expanded its nuclear arsenal.

The state is now believed to possess a stockpile of some 40 to 50 nuclear warheads along with the raw materials needed to double this apocalyptic hoard.

However, what it lacks is the long-range ballistic technology required to launch and carry these warheads.

In September last year, Putin welcomed Kim to Russia's Vostochny Cosmodrome spaceport in the far east of the country.

The spaceport is typically used to launch satellites, but the technology needed to do so is very similar to that required to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles equipped with nuclear warheads.

At the time, Putin wisecracked to the assembled reporters: 'The leader of the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) shows great interest in rocket engineering.'

I am, however, sceptical that Putin really wants to share nuclear know-how with Kim. For all the pomp and ceremony of this month's visit, Russia still does not fully trust North Korea.

A more likely point of collaboration between the two concerns cyber-warfare – the latest and more profitable front in the battle against the US and Europe.

North Korea runs a highly sophisticated cyber unit which has been implicated in frauds worth $3 billion between 2017 and 2023.

The possibility of co-operation in cyber-hacking represents a fearsome new threat to global banking, international security and personal data.

And then there is the potential for trade in people.

In February this year, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky estimated that more than 180,000 Russian soldiers had been killed in Ukraine, with around 300,000 more believed to have been injured.

The result is that Russia faces a crippling shortage of workers to man its munitions factories, bring home the harvest and maintain public services.

North Korea, on the other hand, has a surplus of impoverished, hard-working people. It wouldn't surprise me if we see thousands of North Koreans labouring in Russian munitions factories by the end of the year.

Whatever the case, Putin's historic visit to North Korea this week marks a line in the sand.

A new axis of pariah states is emerging – with Russia, North Korea, Iran and China at its heart.

But it's not just these four geopolitical heavyweights. Putin is hoping to lead a tribe of outcasts which also includes the likes of Venezuela, Zimbabwe and Iraq.

The world is becoming ever more unstable. The risk of another global conflict is increasing.

But there remains one great truism of war: before you pick your enemy, you choose your friends. And in this regard, Putin has made his ugly choice.