Operation Eun and other adventures of Putin

On September 13, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with the head of the DPRK Kim Jong-un at the Vostochny cosmodrome. Kommersant special correspondent Andrey Kolesnikov I wanted to understand how the leader of North Korea feels on the hospitable Eastern Russian soil, and I understood.

Arriving late at night at the Vostochny Cosmodrome from Vladivostok, we spent the night serenely in a dormitory for workers of the Amur gas processing plant. Gazprom thinks about people, first of all about its own people – yes, we are convinced of this. The working breakfast was varied – a choice of two porridges, potato pancakes, sausages, casserole, and much more. Next to me in the checkout line, North Korean security officers looked approvingly at this magnificence – despite the early hour, in pressed snow-white shirts, in suits with beautiful red badges with the image of the leader on the lapels and with a characteristic headset in their ears. They arrived at the hostel the night before. There were 110 of them. For obvious reasons, there was essentially only one protected object. And besides, not here yet.

Kim Jong-un was traveling from the Khasan border checkpoint, where he was met by Russian Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Alexander Kozlov. Khasan is located in the Primorsky Territory, and it was a three-hour drive to the railway tracks at the Vostochny Cosmodrome.

The arrival of an armored train on these tracks looked majestic. First, Kim Jong-un slowly stepped out into the fresh air. Then his car rolled out of carriage number 3, just as slowly, an old but well-maintained Maybach.

Several young Korean people were running along the platform with mobile weather stations in their hands. These weather stations can do it all. They measure the speed of side, tail and head winds, air, water and snow temperatures, dew point and, of course, the heat index. And all this seemed to be in demand right now.

The train did not look, by the way, so armor-piercing. A train is like a train. I was even a little late.

At this time, Vladimir Putin had already arrived at the installation and testing building at the cosmodrome. By all indications, he was in a good mood, even telling reporters when asked if he would discuss the topic of weapons with a colleague that all topics would be discussed. That is, he did not refute, but rather confirmed.

But the North Korean colleague was delayed, and the Russian president went into the installation and testing building – at the same time, apparently, to check whether everything was ready for his own arrival in a few minutes.

Here, first of all, two monitors with images of the Soyuz-2 launch vehicle and the Angara launch vehicle were ready. The space around the missiles was dotted with explanatory signs in Korean.

On the wall of the building, a discreet inscription caught the eye: “Entrance in soft shoes with light soles.” Judging by the fact that Mr. Putin entered the hall without any problems, everything was like that for him.

General Director of TsENKI (Center for Operation of Ground-Based Space Infrastructure Facilities.— “Kommersant”) Nikolai Nestechuk showed the president two disassembled missiles and reported:

— We plan to tell you a few words about Angara. If he’s interested, of course. And then a few words about Soyuz-2…

— Vladimir Vladimirovich, can we suggest they launch a Korean cosmonaut? — Roscosmos head Yuri Borisov, who was standing nearby, interrupted his colleague.

This seems to be the main creativity of Roscosmos in such events. Well, it’s a win-win. There are no cons.

Mr. Putin reacted somewhat vaguely. That is, it was impossible to say that he was definitely in favor. But I didn’t seem to be against it either. But still, apparently, there is no solution here yet. That is, obviously, it must be earned. And besides, long-term reputational risks… However, what is there to risk, on the other hand…

Vladimir Putin went out into the street again – he was informed that Kim Jong-un’s car had almost arrived.

It was here that Russian and North Korean journalists were sorting things out. This had been going on for half an hour. The North Koreans pretended that they did not understand what their colleagues wanted from them. And they wanted them to move at least a little. The North Koreans, meanwhile, firmly controlled every inch of free space. When it was beneficial for them to speak Russian, they did. And so, of course, an abyss of misunderstanding arose.

“Let’s still be friends,” even Mr. Putin intervened.

Although, if I were the photojournalist Vladimir Smirnov, to whom he was now addressing, I would unconditionally give way to my colleague from the DPRK: for that, it was literally a matter of life and death. One hesitantly shot shot – and that’s it… Where is he, this correspondent? Nobody will see him again, of course. And Vladimir Smirnov at TASS won’t even be deprived of his prize, if anything.

– Yes, but they are like locusts! – insisted another photojournalist. – You only figured out one – two more are standing in front of you!

And again, colleagues from the DPRK could understand: state visits by the leader of their country are now even more rare than trips by Vladimir Putin.

Kim Jong-un appeared in a car just as epically as on a train.

The doors of the Maybach, when he was already very close to Vladimir Putin, were slightly open just in case, and security officers poked their heads out of them and looked around with demonstrative anxiety. In the end, it was just beautiful. Judging by the fact that the guards were in no hurry to dismount, they liked themselves.

A couple of minutes later there was another approach to the missile monitors in the assembly and testing building, this time with the head of the DPRK. Kim Jong-un did not have time to pay attention to these missiles themselves, lying half disassembled in the body: he began to read in Korean what the different parts of the missiles were called.

He generally showed himself to be an extremely interested person, asked what was what, and was simply greedily interested in everything – something could, apparently, come in handy.

And it was clear that the scale of the assembly case, for example, made a strong impression on him. Kim Jong-un looked around with not-so-disguised delight. Then he asked to be taken to the Mission Control Center (not planned), then to the launch pad of the Soyuz and Angara (where they popularly explained to him that the rocket was not standing, it was hanging). And finally, his heart calmed down Vladimir Putin’s Aurus, which he also studied thoroughly: he sat in the place of the Russian president, even fidgeted… Vladimir Putin, who sat down on the left, looked approvingly at his North Korean friend.

It is difficult to say whether Kim Jong-un’s interest in space rockets is applied (which also cannot be completely ruled out) or academic. But Aurus, I got the impression that he will definitely buy it.

Or they will give it to him. And they will probably even give it as a gift. But first they will place it as a special order. So that everything would be like Putin’s (apparently, Comrade Kim is fed up with the Maybach and wants new thrills).

While the head of the DPRK was disappearing into the belly of Aurus, the final preparations were being completed in the negotiation room. The biggest concern for the North Korean side turned out to be the chair. For some reason it worried the security staff. And they touched him and shook him from side to side, and then the sufferers shook their heads. At some point I realized: the design of the chair was such that there was no support on the solid legs at the back. And the North Koreans got nervous, sat down in a chair, stood up, sat down again… In the end, for them too it was a matter of life and death, and not of their leader, but, of course, of their own.

As a result, the chair was changed to exactly the same one from the row that was lined up for the members of the delegation. The design was identical. We tried a black chair, but it looked downright poor. And in the end, the Minister of Defense of the DPRK sat in a dubious chair. And nothing, he didn’t complain.

Then the chair intended for Kim Jong-un was wiped non-stop by a North Korean employee for several minutes, wearing white gloves: judging by the smell, he disinfected it.

Historical North Korean leaders sat opposite historical Russian leaders. There were Sergei Lavrov, Sergei Shoigu, Alexey Overchuk, Denis Manturov, Vitaly Savelyev… Mr. Lavrov had just finished telling a joke to the Minister of Defense, and they managed to finish laughing just before their colleagues from the DPRK arrived.

The Bloody Princess, as she is called in the West, was also here, that is, Kim Jong-un’s sister, Kim Yo-chong. In fact, standing behind two marshals and the Minister of Foreign Affairs and from time to time, as if instructing them in a whisper in their ears, she gave the impression of a pretty and sometimes even defenseless girl.

“Let me remind you that it was our country that was the first to recognize a sovereign, independent state – the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” Mr. Putin said everything he had to say.

— We were able to see with our own eyes the present and future of Russia in building a space power! – answered the North Korean leader. – And now we are holding a meeting with you at a very special time in the heart of the space power of Russia. Now Russia has risen to a sacred struggle to defend its sovereignty in opposition to the hegemonic forces that oppose Russia! I hope that we will always be together in the struggle against imperialism and for the construction of a sovereign state!

The rhetoric was recognizable and for some time now, one might say, just familiar again.

Kim Jong-un looked softened by the special reception and even more so by the hearty lunch of dumplings with Kamchatka crab and grass carp fish soup. He felt good here, among all his people. He shared his kindest thoughts with everyone. And if he was asked to share anything else, he would share it.

And he was asked.