A record number of North Koreans entered Russia in the third quarter this year, the majority on student visas, a development that experts said may be connected to the DPRK’s dispatch of thousands of troops to fight against Ukraine.

A total of 5,263 North Koreans entered Russia from July to September, up from nearly 1,700 from April to June, data released by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) shows.

The figure marks the highest quarterly number of border crossings since the fourth quarter of 2019, when over 6,000 entered the country.

Notably, 3,765 DPRK nationals reported that they were visiting