"Russia could soon be carrying out military drills alongside North Korea and Cuba according to Valery Gerasimov, the chief of staff of the Russian armed forces.
[...]
A top Russian military official has stated that Moscow plans on conducting joint military exercises with North Korea. Valery Gerasimov, the chief of staff of the Russian military, made the announcement on Saturday at a meeting attended by all the top service chiefs as well as the Russian defense minister, Sergey Shoygu."
"According to the former U.S. ambassador to the Ukraine Steven Pifer, Russia is developing these potential military partnerships as a response to its current international isolation. Due to its involvement in the Ukrainian conflict, the U.S. and EU have both imposed sanctions on the country and certain Russian individuals, and the country was suspended from the G8 last March.
“The Russian military may be reaching out to other countries as part of Moscow’s effort to show that it is not isolated, despite the very negative international reaction to Russian aggression against Ukraine,” Pifer says." (forras)