At the final press conference of the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russian President Vladimir Putin commented for the first time on reports of North Korean troops being sent to Russia for possible participation in the war against Ukraine. He did not deny their presence in Russia, but did not specify the purpose of their arrival, the BBC reports. Putin was asked a question by a journalist from the American television company NBC. He said that the presence of DPRK troops was shown by satellite images. "What are they doing here?" the journalist asked. "And isn't this a serious escalation of the conflict?" "Russia's actions did not lead to the escalation," Putin responded, and once again spoke about the "coup d'etat" in Ukraine in 2014. He also accused Western countries of arming the Ukrainian army and helping it fight. Putin recalled that earlier on Thursday, the State Duma ratified the agreement on a "comprehensive strategic partnership" with North Korea, signed by the Russian president in Pyongyang this summer. The treaty provides for “mutual assistance in the event of aggression” against one of its participants. “There is Article 4,” Putin said. He added: Pyongyang “takes our agreements seriously.” Article 4 of the agreement stipulates that “if one of the parties finds itself in a state of war due to an armed attack by one or more states, the other party will immediately provide it with military assistance by all available means in accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter and the laws of the DPRK and the Russian Federation.” “What and how we will do within the framework of this article is our business,” Putin concluded, without giving any details about sending North Korean troops to Russia or their goals. “We will see how this process develops,” he added, after which he stated that the Russian military in Ukraine is currently acting “confidently in all directions.” As for the satellite images that the American journalist referred to, Putin joked: “Images are a serious thing. If there are images, then they reflect something.” South Korea, Ukraine and the United States reported sending North Korean troops in October.