 North Korean Army simulating the storming and seizure of a South Korean border post. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, during military exercises that included simulating the storming and seizure of a South Korean border post, called on the country's army to intensify preparations for war according to the requirements of the current situation. The need for training in attacks on border posts was explained by the North Korean leader as a response to constant threats from enemies. As reported by the official Korean Central News Agency, Kim Jong-un called on the military to usher in a new heyday of intensifying the war preparations in line with the requirements of the prevailing situation. He also gave instructions about more strongly conducting practical and realistic exercises that assure the conviction of winning on the actual battlefield. It is noted that such military activity at the main base for operational training in the western part is taking place against the backdrop of the annual US and South Korean joint exercises called Foal Eagle, which began on Monday. Photographs of the North Korean drills were also published by Rodong Sinmun, showing troops and helicopters practicing the seizure of a post similar to the one South Korea has on its side of the border. Earlier in January, the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un, made a series of statements indicating his desire and readiness to start a war with South Korea. The New York Times reported that the US anticipates the possibility of military action between North Korea and South Korea in the coming months. At the same time, the press notes that Pyongyang has a significant reason not to escalate the conflict, as the pace of North Korea's economic growth has reached its highest level in almost a decade due to the sale of weapons by Russia. Interest in desertion is clearly rising in Russian army. The Russian anti-war Go Through the Forest project has declared February the 29th the day of the deserter to change the image of those who flee from the ranks of the Russian army in Ukraine from traitors and weaklings as the Kremlin wants people to believe and to show that leaving the ranks is an action of bravery and love for one's country. Paul Goebel, specialist on ethnic and religious questions in Eurasia, said this. He recalls that Grigory Sverdlin, who organized a homeless shelter in Russia before fleeing the country after the start of the war, is the founder of the Go Through the Forest project. He says his group has been able to help 520 deserters of whom approximately 70% have fled abroad while the remainder are mostly in hiding inside Russia. Paul Goebel says that, since the start of the war, his group has received inquiries from more than 24,000 soldiers of which 2,086 involves issues of desertion and the illegal crossing of the Russian state border. The highest number of such desertion questions, 284, came in January 2024. A year earlier, his group received only 28. Perhaps significantly approximately half of these potential deserters are men who signed on as professional soldiers and have either been horrified by what is going on at the front or are outraged that they have not been given the leave that they were promised and that Russian law requires. The activists also provide statistics on the types of crimes those the authorities catch with charges short of desertion more common because they are easy to prosecute and get convictions. The FSB and the military command they add now try to keep those who try to desert in their units because they need the men and because where punishment is informal and often brutal. Those interested in desertion face far greater obstacles now than they did a year earlier, the activists say, and that fact may depress official statistics somewhat. Russian's interest in desertion is clearly rising as Russia's war in Ukraine enters its third year. Russian spy activity in US and Europe higher than in Cold War. Russia has stepped up its intelligence work in the West and is innovating its spy craft. The Financial Times reported, citing interviews with analysts and intelligence officials. Last week's leak of a recording in which German Air Force officers discussed potential ways of helping Ukraine use Taurus missiles to target Russia's Crimean Bridge while maintaining plausible deniability of involvement was Moscow's most explosive propaganda coup so far this year the outlet said. But it was only one example of Russia's reinvigorated competence in the world of spying according to its sources. Russian activities are as high or even higher than during the Cold War, one of them said. It was described Russian intelligence as a huge machine adding that it was back doing what it always did. Most of the interviews were conducted before the German leak. In 2022, Western nations tried to undermine Moscow's intelligence networks by expelling hundreds of diplomats on suspicions that they may be working covertly for intelligence services. In hindsight, this move may have made counterintelligence more difficult, one of the agents said. You would invite them round to the house, have drinks, introduce the family, make them realize you are a human being, cultivate trust. It was basic, the source said, explaining how having the Russians around had its benefits. Moscow has ramped up the use of illegals, agents without diplomatic cover, as well as proxy agents such as foreign nationals drawn from politics, business and organized crime, the article claims. There are also concerns in the West that critics of the Russian government who have fled to other nations amid the Ukraine conflict could be pressured by Moscow into cooperation. Some of the complaints were about neutral European nations such as Austria and Switzerland as well as Russia friendly Serbia allegedly serving as bases of operation for Russian officers. One source claimed that nearly a third of Russian operations on the continent are run from the safe hubs of Vienna and Geneva. Turkey and the UAE are likewise used as staging posts for Moscow's operatives, the newspaper was told. The Russians are such cruises, an intelligence source said. But the official conceded they can also do some very sophisticated operations that in intelligence terms are stupendously cool.