Editor’s Note: Frida Ghitis (@fridaghitis), former CNN producer and correspondent, is a world affairs columnist. She is a weekly contributor to CNN and is a columnist for the Washington Post and World Politics Review. The opinions expressed in this commentary belong solely to the author.

When North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un arrived in Russia’s Far East region on Tuesday aboard his grandfather’s green armored train, en route to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, he helped set shed light on two important facts about Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine.

First, Putin has transformed what was once a powerful and respected army and country into one reduced to begging for help from an impoverished state that can barely feed his own people. It is a humiliating exercise for a diminished Putin, who compares himself in vain to Tsar Peter the Great of the 18th century, and this is not a great picture for a deeply damaged Russia.

Second, Russia’s war against Ukraine makes the whole world even more dangerous. After more than 18 months, Russia is courting a regime that has repeatedly attacked its neighbor and regularly fires all types of dangerous missiles into the region, the latest just a few days ago. A marginalized nation that now risks becoming even more threatening after negotiations with Putin.

The Kremlin has been struggling to dust off and revive its old Cold War ties with Pyongyang’s totalitarian dynasty since its plans to conquer Ukraine failed within days. Already last year, North Korea supplied artillery shells and missiles to Russia, according to US officials.

But as the war drags on, Russian arsenals will continue to be depleted while international sanctions against invading Ukraine will make it difficult to increase production. And that’s great news for Kim.

Putin, increasingly isolated, seeks weapons among other pariah nations. Iran has become a key supplier of drones that regularly kill Ukrainian civilians (Iran has denied supplying weapons to Russia despite evidence to the contrary). Now, North Korea may be poised to play a larger role, potentially aiding Russia in its illegal war.

It seems that Putin is assembling a kind of team of tyrants, an ad hoc association of repressive regimes, governments of countries where citizens are deprived of many rights that much of the world takes for granted. Places of real and perceived criticism of the regime they die in mysterious circumstances; reaching out to other dictators, one by one, as he seeks help in crushing Ukraine’s independence.

By the way, China another repressive regime, is generally on the side of this nascent bloc, but has reluctantly played a role. He maintained his support but did not deliver massive quantities of weapons to Moscow. For North Korea, growing ties with the Kremlin offer an opportunity to tacitly pressure Beijing, its other friend, for more support.

What Moscow expects from Pyongyang is no mystery. When Defense Secretary Sergei Shoigu visited North Korea in July, the first visit by a Russian defense secretary in more than 30 years, he visited a weapons exhibition and said that both countries would organize war games. “They are our neighbors”he said, adding that “it is better to live in peace and harmony with your neighbors” (perhaps he was unaware of what his forces were doing in Ukraine).

Shoigu has laid the groundwork for this week’s visit and a grand military deal, or so participants hope.

North Korea, hypermilitarized, has a vast arsenal. Russia apparently wants mainly artillery shells and anti-tank missiles; more firepower to attack Ukraine.

But what does Kim gain? Why are you venturing out of the country? for the first time in four years, only the tenth since he inherited power in 2011?

Learn more here.