A recent National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) survey has exposed alarming crime trends in Nigeria, revealing that citizens paid an estimated N2.23 trillion in ransoms between May 2023 and April 2024.

The comprehensive crime experience and security perception report documented approximately 51.89 million criminal incidents across Nigerian households during the one-year period. The data paints a troubling picture of security challenges facing the country.

Regional Breakdown of Crime Incidents:

- North-West emerged as the most crime-prone zone, reporting over 14 million cases

- North-Central followed with 8.7 million incidents

- South-East recorded the lowest number of crimes at around 6.2 million

Notably, rural areas experienced slightly more criminal activities (26.5 million incidents) compared to urban areas (25.4 million incidents).

Kidnapping and Ransom Highlights:

- 65% of households experiencing kidnapping paid a ransom

- Average ransom payment was N2.67 million

- Total estimated ransom payments reached a staggering N2.23 trillion

Home Robbery Statistics:

- 4.14 million households were victims of home robbery

- Only 36.3% of robbery victims reported incidents to the police

Individual Crime Experiences:

- 21.4% of Nigerians reported being crime victims

- Phone theft was the most common crime, affecting 13.8% of individuals

- 90% of phone theft victims reported to the police

- Only 50% of victims expressed satisfaction with police responses

Reasons for Low Reporting:

The study identified key factors discouraging crime reporting, including:

- Lack of confidence in law enforcement

- Belief that police intervention would not yield meaningful results

The report underscores significant security challenges facing Nigeria, highlighting the urgent need for improved law enforcement and crime prevention strategies.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

In a significant fiscal development, major international technology companies, including Google, Facebook, Netflix, and others, have paid N3.85 trillion in taxes to the Nigerian Federal Government during the first nine months of 2024.

Tax Collection Highlights:

- 68.12% increase from N2.29 trillion in the same period of 2023

- Comprises Company Income Tax (CIT) and Value Added Tax (VAT)

- Quarterly progression shows consistent growth in tax revenues

Detailed Tax Breakdown:

1. Company Income Tax (CIT)

   - Total collection: N2.57 trillion

   - 43.65% increase from N1.789 trillion in 2023

   - Quarterly progression:

     * Q1: N598.13 billion

     * Q2: N1.12 trillion

     * Q3: N852.29 billion

2. Value Added Tax (VAT)

   - Total collection: N1.28 trillion

   - Remarkable 157.03% surge from N498.34 billion in 2023

   - Quarterly progression:

     * Q1: N435.73 billion

     * Q2: N395.74 billion

     * Q3: N448.85 billion

Regulatory Context:

- CIT: 30% tax on company profits

- VAT: 7.5% consumption tax

- Government initiated tax collection from digital service providers in 2020

Targeted Digital Service Providers:

- Video streaming platforms

- Social media sites

- Digital content download services

- Companies like Netflix, Facebook, Twitter, Alibaba, and Amazon

Compliance Status:

- Google, LinkedIn, and Meta have met tax compliance requirements

- TikTok and X (formerly Twitter) are yet to comply with tax filing regulations

The significant increase in tax collection reflects the Nigerian government's enhanced efforts to capture revenue from digital service providers operating in the country, even without physical offices.

Experts anticipate further revenue growth as more social platforms begin remitting their statutory tax obligations.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has introduced new regulations for point-of-sale (PoS) transactions, setting a daily withdrawal limit of N100,000 per customer as part of its ongoing efforts to promote a cashless economy.

Key Withdrawal Restrictions:

- Maximum daily cash withdrawal per customer: N100,000

- Weekly cash withdrawal limit: N500,000

- Daily cumulative cash-out limit for agents: N1,200,000

The comprehensive directive, issued through a circular to deposit money banks, microfinance banks, mobile money operators, and super-agents, aims to:

- Address industry challenges

- Combat potential fraud

- Establish uniform operational standards

Detailed Compliance Requirements:

1. Agent Banking Terminal Limitations

   - Daily transaction cash-out capped at N100,000 per customer

   - Strict demarcation between agent banking and merchant activities

   - Mandatory use of Agent Code 6010 for banking activities

2. Account and Transaction Monitoring

   - Transactions to be conducted exclusively through designated float accounts

   - Monitoring of accounts associated with agents' Bank Verification Numbers (BVN)

   - Electronic reporting of daily transactions to the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS)

Regulatory Oversight:

- Principals will be held fully responsible for their agents' actions

- CBN will conduct unannounced back-end configuration checks

- Non-compliance may result in monetary and administrative sanctions

The move represents a significant step in the CBN's strategy to digitize financial transactions and reduce cash circulation in the Nigerian economy.

Banks and financial institutions have been directed to implement these guidelines immediately, marking a new phase in Nigeria's financial regulatory landscape.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Gaza ceasefire talks gain momentum as officials push for deal

An agreement to halt the 14-month-old war in Gazaand free hostages held in the Palestinian enclave could be signed in the coming days with talks in Cairo making progress, sources briefed on the meeting said on Tuesday.

The U.S. administration, joined by mediators from Egypt and Qatar, has made intensive efforts in recent days to advance the talks before President Joe Biden leaves office next month.

"We believe - and the Israelis have said this - that we're getting closer, and no doubt about it, we believe that, but we also are cautious in our optimism," White House spokesperson John Kirby said in an interview with Fox News.

"We've been in this position before where we weren't able to get it over the finish line."

The sources said a ceasefire deal could be days away that would stop the fighting and return hostages held by the Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

CIA Director William Burns, a key U.S. negotiator, was due in Doha on Wednesday for talks with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani on bridging remaining gaps between Israel and Hamas, other knowledgeable sources told Reuters.

The CIA declined to comment.

Hamas said in a statement a deal was possible if Israel stopped setting new conditions. A Palestinian official close to the mediation efforts said negotiations were serious, with discussions under way about every word.

Sources briefed on the meeting said Netanyahu was on his way to Cairo, but a statement from Netanyahu's office said he had a meeting on Tuesday with senior military and security officials on Mount Hermon, a strategic plateau just inside Syria.

Separately, his spokesperson messaged Israeli correspondents to say: "The prime minister is not in Cairo."

Two Egyptian security sources said that Netanyahu was not in Cairo "at this moment" but that a meeting was under way to work through the remaining points, chief among them a Hamas demand for guarantees that any immediate deal would lead to a comprehensive agreement later.

The Egyptian sources said they were making progress and felt that Tuesday night could be decisive in setting the next steps.

Netanyahu had been excused on Tuesday from giving previously scheduled testimony at his corruption trial. He met in Israel on Monday with Adam Boehler, designated by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to be his special envoy for hostage affairs.

At a press conference in Florida on Monday, Trump reiterated his threat that "all hell is going to break out" if Hamas does not release its hostages by Jan. 20, the day he takes office.

Later, Trump said that if no ceasefire deal is reached by the time he takes office, "It's not going to be pleasant." He did not elaborate.

U.S. and Israeli officials have expressed growing optimism that negotiations brokered by Egypt and Qatar could produce a deal by the end of the month but have also cautioned that the talks could fall through.

Israeli negotiators were in Doha on Monday looking to bridge gaps between Israel and Hamas on a deal Biden outlined in May.

There have been repeated rounds of talks over the past year, all of which have ended in failure, with Israel insisting on retaining a military presence in Gaza and Hamas refusing to release hostages until the troops pulled out.

The war in Gaza, triggered by a Hamas-led attack on communities in southern Israel that killed some 1,200 people and saw more than 250 abducted as hostages, has sent shockwaves across the Middle East and left Israel isolated internationally.

Israel's campaign has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, displaced most of the 2.3 million population and reduced much of the coastal enclave to ruins.

Israeli airstrikes killed extended families in homes in two parts of the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, medics said.

At least 10 people were confirmed killed in an airstrike on a house in Gaza City that destroyed the building, while further north in the town of Beit Lahiya at least 15 people were believed to be dead or missing under the rubble of a house hit around dawn.

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine kills Russian chemical weapons chief Igor Kirillov in Moscow

A top Russian general accused by Ukraine of being responsible for the use of chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops was assassinated in Moscow by Ukraine's SBU intelligence service on Tuesday morning in the most high-profile killing of its kind.

Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, who was chief of Russia's Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops, was killed outside an apartment building along with his assistant when a bomb hidden in an electric scooter went off, Russia's Investigative Committee, which probes serious crimes, said.

An SBU source confirmed to Reuters that the Ukrainian intelligence agency had been behind the hit. "The liquidation of the chief of the radiation and chemical protection troops of the Russian Federation is the work of the SBU," the source said.

The source said that a scooter containing explosives was detonated, killing both Kirillov and his aide, as they stepped out of a building on Ryazansky Prospekt in Moscow.

Unverified video footage of the attack circulating on social media showed two men exiting the building to get into a car followed by a large explosion as the two men remained on the pavement. Reuters could not independently verify the footage.

Kirillov, 54, is the most senior Russian military officer to be assassinated inside Russia by Ukraine and his murder is likely to prompt the Russian authorities to review security protocols for the army's top brass.

Former President Dmitry Medvedev, now a senior Russian security official, told a meeting shown on state TV that Moscow would avenge what he called an act of terrorism.

"Law enforcement agencies must find the killers in Russia," said Medvedev. "Everything must be done to destroy the masterminds (of the killing) who are in Kyiv. We know who these masterminds are. They are the military and political leadership of Ukraine," he said.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, speaking to Russian news agencies, dismissed a comment from the U.S. State Department that Washington had no connection to the killing or any prior knowledge of it.

The United States, she said, "created the Kyiv regime, sponsors it, provides money and sends weapons endlessly. The proof is clear: Washington has not once condemned a single terrorist act or planned murder committed by the Kyiv regime."

There was no immediate comment from President Vladimir Putin.

Moscow holds Ukraine responsible for a string of high-profile assassinations on its soil designed to weaken morale and punish those Kyiv regards guilty of war crimes. Ukraine, which says Russia's war against it poses an existential threat to the Ukrainian state, has made clear it regards such targeted killings as a legitimate tool.

Reuters photographs and video from the scene showed a shattered entrance to an apartment building with bomb-blackened bricks and the doors hanging off their hinges and what looked like two bodies lying beneath black plastic sheets on the snow.

KIRILLOV WORKED 'FEARLESSLY FOR THE MOTHERLAND'

Russia denies Ukrainian allegations it uses chemical weapons on the battlefield and Kirillov, who was married with two sons, was himself sometimes shown on state TV giving briefings at the Defence Ministry in which he accused Ukraine of violating nuclear safety protocols or the West of various alleged crimes.

Britain in October imposed sanctions on Kirillov and his nuclear defence forces for using riot control agents and over multiple reports of the use of the toxic choking agent chloropicrin on the battlefield.

Such agents, Ukraine has alleged, are used to disorient its troops, leaving them unable to defend themselves against Russian attacks.

Sergei Sitnikov, a regional Russian governor, said Kirillov was his friend and had told him he was aware of a threat against him.

"Some time ago, he told me that he had already been warned that the hunt for him had begun," Sitnikov said in a statement, saying he believed Kyiv wanted to kill Kirillov for various reasons, including his involvement in the development and use of a heavy flamethrower system.

Kirillov was murdered a day after Ukrainian state prosecutors charged him in absentia with the alleged use of banned chemical weapons, the Kyiv Independent cited the SBU as saying.

The lieutenant general was also listed in a sprawling unofficial Ukrainian database of people considered to be enemies of the country called Myrotvorets (Peacemaker). A photograph of Kirillov on the website was overwritten with the word "Liquidated" in red letters on Tuesday morning.

Russia says Ukraine has carried out a string of targeted assassinations since the start of Moscow's full-scale war on Ukraine in February 2022.

The most high-profile cases include the 2022 killing of Darya Dugina, the daughter of Russian nationalist ideologue Alexander Dugin, the murder of pro-war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky in a 2023 cafe bombing, and the shooting last year of a Russian submarine commander accused of war crimes by Kyiv.

Russia's radioactive, chemical and biological defence troops, which Kirillov commanded, are special forces who operate under conditions of radioactive, chemical and biological contamination and who are tasked with protecting ground forces operating in extreme conditions.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

What we know about Russian general killed in Moscow blast

Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia’s Radiological, Chemical, and Biological Defense Forces (RChBZ), has died in a blast together with his aide. According to investigators, an explosive device hidden in a scooter was detonated on Tuesday morning near the entrance of a residential building in Moscow’s south-east.

Here’s what is known about Kirillov:

• From September 2014 to April 2017, he served as the head of the Military Academy of the RChBZ named after Marshal of the Soviet Union Semyon Timoshenko.
  
• In April 2017, Kirillov became the chief of the RChBZ troops.
  
• Kirillov dealt with anti-terrorism both domestically and abroad. He exposed the provocations of the controversial White Helmets volunteer organization in Syria, and participated in mitigating the consequences of natural and man-made disasters.
  
• Since the beginning of the military operation against Ukraine in February 2022, Kirillov has spoken at briefings held by the Ministry of Defense, where he shared information about Ukrainian developments in the areas of radiological, chemical, and biological weapons. In March 2022, he announced that Ukrainian biolaboratories were studying the potential for transferring highly dangerous infections through migratory birds.
  
• The same month, Kirillov presented copies of documents that, according to him, confirmed the Pentagon’s funding of biological laboratories in Ukraine.
  
• In June 2024, Kirillov stated that spent nuclear fuel and hazardous chemical waste were being imported into Ukraine for a potential “dirty bomb” creation. He added that radiochemical substances were still being brought into Ukraine for disposal. According to him, these supplies were overseen by Andrey Yermak, Vladimir Zelensky’s right-hand man, with primary routes passing through Poland and Romania.
  
• In October 2024, the UK slapped Kirillov with sanctions after he accused Ukraine of preparing a false-flag chemical weapons attack with the aim of framing Russia and undermining its position at the OPCW. Kirillov noted that NATO had provided Ukraine with a much larger amount of chemical protective equipment than the country actually needs, calling it further evidence of an impending plot.
  
• In November 2024, Kirillov said that Ukraine planned to seize a nuclear power plant during its large-scale incursion into the Kursk Region.
  
• Kirillov was killed in the blast one day after Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) formally declared him a suspect in the alleged use of chemical weapons against Kiev’s military. The general rejected claims that Russia had been attacking Ukraine with riot control agents and chemical weapons, recalling that the OPCW had confirmed the complete destruction of all Russian chemical weapons stockpiles in 2017.

Reuters/RT

It was a bold idea, encapsulated in a snappy slogan: “From billions to trillions.” A decade ago, when private capital was sloshing into developing economies, governments and development institutions saw an opportunity to turbocharge progress on poverty reduction and other development goals. “The good news is that, globally, there are ample savings, amounting to $17 trillion, and liquidity is at historical highs,” read a key strategy document of the time.

The bad news is that it all turned out to be a fantasy. Instead, the financing landscape for development has been upended. Since 2022, foreign private creditors have extracted nearly $141 billion more in debt-service payments from public-sector borrowers in developing economies than they have disbursed in new financing.

But there is one striking exception: In 2022 and 2023, the World Bank and other multilateral institutions pumped in nearly $85 billion more than they collected in debt-service payments. Thus, multilateral institutions have been thrust into a role that they were never designed to play. They are now lenders of last resort, deploying scarce long-term development finance to compensate for the exit of other creditors.

Last year, multilateral institutions accounted for about 20% of developing economies’ long-term external debt stock, five points higher than in 2019. The World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) now accounts for nearly half of the development aid going from multilateral institutions to the 26 poorest countries. And in 2023, the World Bank accounted for one-third of the overall net debt inflows going into IDA-eligible countries – $16.7 billion, more than three times the volume a decade ago.

These developments reflect a broken financing system. Since capital – both public and private – is essential for development, long-term progress will depend to a large degree on restarting the capital flows that benefited most developing countries in the first decade of this century. But the risk-reward balance cannot remain as lopsided as it is today, with multilateral institutions and government creditors bearing nearly all the risk while private creditors reap nearly all the rewards.

When global interest rates skyrocketed in 2022 and 2023, leading to increased debt distress in the poorest countries, the World Bank followed its usual practice. It shifted from providing low-interest loans to providing grants to countries at high risk of distress. It also increased its overall financing for these countries, typically with generous repayment terms ranging from 30 to 50 years. But private creditors headed for the exits, with high interest rates more than fully compensating them for the investment risks they had taken.

In the absence of a predictable global system for restructuring debt, most countries facing distress opted to tough it out rather than default and risk being cut off indefinitely from global capital markets. In some cases, new financing arriving from the World Bank promptly went back out the door to repay private creditors.

In 2023, developing countries spent a record $1.4 trillion – nearly 4% of their gross national income – just to service their debt. While principal repayments remained stable at about $951 billion, interest payments surged by more than one-third, to about $406 billion. The result, for many developing countries, has been a devastating diversion of resources away from areas critical for long-term growth and development, such as health and education.

The squeeze on the poorest and most vulnerable countries – those eligible to borrow from the IDA – has been especially fierce. Their interest payments on external debt have quadrupled since 2013, hitting an all-time high of $34.6 billion in 2023. On average, interest payments now amount to nearly 6% of IDA-eligible countries’ export earnings – a level not reached since 1999. For some countries, the burden ranges from 10% to as much as 38% of export earnings. It is no wonder that more than half of IDA-eligible countries are either in debt distress or at high risk of it, or that private creditors have been retreating.

These facts imply that the world’s poorest countries are suffering not from liquidity problems, but from a metastasizing solvency crisis. It might be easy to kick the can down the road by providing these countries with just enough financing to help them meet their immediate repayment obligations. But doing so will simply prolong their purgatory. These countries need faster growth if they are ever going to reduce their debt burdens, but faster growth requires higher investment. Given the size of their debt burdens, that is unlikely to materialize. On current trends, their ability to repay will never be restored.

We need to face reality: the poorest countries facing debt distress need debt relief if they are to have a shot at sustained economic growth and lasting prosperity. A twenty-first-century global system is needed to ensure fair play in lending to all developing economies. Sovereign borrowers deserve at least some of the protections that are routinely afforded to debt-strapped businesses and individuals under national bankruptcy laws. Private creditors that make risky, high-interest loans to poor countries ought to bear a fair share of the cost when the bet goes bad.

In an era of deepening international mistrust, it will be a struggle to establish these precepts. But without them, all major development goals will remain in peril, facing the same fate as the “billions to trillions” promise.

Project Syndicate

Nigeria's inflation rate climbed to 34.60% in November, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), marking a continued upward trajectory in the country's economic challenges.

The report reveals an increase of 0.72 percentage points from October's 33.88% inflation rate. Compared to November 2023, the current inflation rate is significantly higher, jumping 6.40 percentage points from the previous year's 28.20%.

Food inflation has been particularly stark, reaching 39.93% year-on-year, which is 7.08 percentage points higher than November 2023's 32.84%. The surge is attributed to price increases in key food categories, including:

- Tubers like yams and potatoes

- Grains such as guinea corn, maize, and rice

- Oils, including palm and vegetable oils

- Tobacco and beer products

On a month-to-month basis, food inflation increased by 2.98% in November, slightly up from 2.94% in October. The rise stems from price hikes in fish, cereals, eggs, milk, and meat products.

The average annual food inflation rate for the twelve months ending November 2024 reached 38.67%, a substantial 11.58 percentage points higher than the previous year's average of 27.09%.

These figures underscore the ongoing economic pressure facing Nigerian consumers, with food prices playing a significant role in the escalating inflation rate.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Israeli team in Doha talks on potential Gaza deal, official says

An Israeli technical team is in Doha for working-level talks with Qatari mediators on "remaining issues" in a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal, an official with knowledge of the talks told Reuters on Monday.

The talks are currently focused on bridging gaps between Israel and Hamas on the deal U.S. President Joe Biden outlined on May 31, the official said.

Efforts by Egypt, Qatar, and the United States to reach a truce in Gaza and a release of hostages have gained momentum in recent weeks, though there has been no breakthrough.

The three countries have, for more than a year, led rounds of so-far fruitless talks to broker an end to the 14-month-long war in Gaza.

In previous rounds, disagreements over new demands that Israel introduced about its future military presence in Gaza obstructed a deal, even after Hamas accepted a version of the proposal Biden introduced in May.

A round of talks in mid-October failed to produce a deal, with Hamas rejecting a short-term ceasefire proposal.

Reuters

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

West pushing Russia beyond ‘red line’ – Putin

The West’s support for Ukraine is pushing Russia to the point where it cannot help but retaliate, President Vladimir Putin has said, while warning the US against deploying medium-range missiles.

Speaking at a meeting of top Russian Defense Ministry officials on Monday, Putin accused the US of seeking “to weaken our country and inflict a strategic defeat” on Moscow by continuing “to pump a de facto illegitimate ruling regime in Kiev with weapons and money, sending mercenaries and military advisers, thereby encouraging further escalation of the conflict.”

Washington is instilling fear in Americans by resorting to “simple tactics,”Putin stated. “They push us to the red line… we begin to respond, and then they frighten their population,” he added, suggesting that the US used the same approach during its rivalry with the Soviet Union.

The Russian president also slammed the West for what he described as attempts to impose its own rules on the rest of the world while waging “hybrid wars” against anyone who resists, including Russia.

In this vein, NATO is boosting its defense spending and forming “strike groups” near Russia’s borders, he added. “The number of American service members in Europe has already exceeded 100,000 troops,”he noted.

NATO is ramping up its presence not only in Europe but also in regions that have never seen this type of military footprint, particularly the Asia-Pacific, Putin said, voicing particular concerns over US plans to deploy missile systems with a range of up to 5,500km. 

Putin was referring to a type of weapon previously banned by the Cold War-era Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. The US unilaterally pulled out of the treaty in 2018, citing Russian non-compliance – an allegation Moscow has denied.

The Russian president stressed that despite Washington’s withdrawal from the INF Treaty, Moscow made a unilateral and voluntary commitment not to deploy medium- and short-range missiles unless the US deploys such weapons anywhere in the world.

However, “if the United States begins to deploy such systems, then all our voluntary restrictions will be lifted,” Putin warned.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine reports North Korean losses on Russia's Kursk front

Dec 16 (Reuters) - Ukraine's HUR military spy agency said on Monday that North Korean units fighting for Russia sustained losses of at least 30 soldiers killed or wounded around several villages on the front in Russia's Kursk region over the weekend.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said at the weekend that Russia was using North Korean troops in significant numbers for the first time to conduct assaults in Kursk region in southern Russia.

On Monday, he posted a video which he said showed Russian soldiers attempting to conceal the identities of dead North Korean servicemen by burning their faces.

The HUR statement is the first time Kyiv has claimed North Korean losses on this scale and in some detail. It said the casualties occurred around the villages of Plekhovo, Vorozhba and Martynovka in the Kursk region. It provided no evidence.

In Washington, Pentagon spokesperson Major General Pat Ryder said the United States had "indications" that North Korean forces had suffered casualties both killed and wounded.

It was not possible to independently verify the figures.

The Kremlin declined to comment on the Ukrainian assertion, referring the question to the Russian Defence Ministry which has made no comment on the subject.

Russia has neither confirmed nor denied the presence of North Koreans on its side. Pyongyang initially dismissed reports about the troop deployment as "fake news", but a North Korean official has said any such deployment would be lawful.

"Due to the losses, the assault groups are being replenished with fresh personnel, in particular from the 94th separate brigade of the DPRK army, to continue active combat operations in Kursk region," the Ukrainian agency wrote.

The video posted by Zelenskiy appeared to show the bodies of North Korean soldiers lying dead in positions where they had been killed. It then showed what appeared to be soldiers setting fire to parts of their bodies on snowy ground.

"Russia is not only involving North Korean soldiers in assaults against Ukrainian positions but is also trying to conceal the losses of these individuals," the president wrote.

"And now, after battles with our soldiers, the Russians are even attempting to ... literally burn the faces of the dead North Korean troops. This is a demonstration of the contempt that now prevails in Russia, a contempt for everything humane."

Reuters could not independently confirm the veracity of the video.

UKRAINIAN INCURSION

Ukrainian troops staged an incursion into Kursk region in August, but Russia's military says its forces have regained much of the territory Kyiv's troops initially captured.

Kyiv first said North Korean forces turned up in Kursk region in October and later reported unspecified clashes and casualties. It estimates there are 11,000 North Koreans in total, adding to a force of tens of thousands of Russians.

Ukraine, nearly a fifth of which is controlled by Moscow's forces, has carved out an enclave in the Kursk region which its troops have been battling to hold as a potential bargaining chip for any potential peace negotiations.

RT/Reuters