'Putin's Playbook' author Rebekah Koffler joined 'Fox & Friends First' to discuss why Putin is traveling to North Korea for the first time in 24 years and her take on NATO taking nuclear weapons out of storage.

For the first time in almost a quarter of a century, Russian President Vladimir Putin is visiting North Korea to meet with its leader, Kim Jong Un, starting Tuesday. Negotiations of a "strategic partnership" and a series of bilateral agreements are part of what the Russian media described as a "big agenda" for the meeting. Accompanied by an entourage of key players in his cabinet, which he revamped shortly after winning his fifth six-year term in March. The meeting between the two strongmen will reportedly be "closed," and conducted "during walks" and while "drinking tea."

Having analyzed Putin’s thinking, decision-making calculus and strategic ambitions, as well as Russia’s doctrine and strategy, here’s my assessment of what Putin is probably up to.

Locked in an existential conflict with the United States and the West over Ukraine, Putin is almost certainly creating an anti-U.S. coalition, on which he wants to rely during what will highly likely be a multiyear war. North Korea is on the list of top U.S. adversaries with whose leaders Putin has been deepening relations with, especially since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. That list also includes China, Iran, Cuba and Venezuela.

A TIMELINE OF RUSSIA-NORTH KOREA RELATIONS AHEAD OF PUTIN'S MEETING WITH KIM JONG UN

Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visit the Vostochny Сosmodrome in the far eastern Amur region, Russia, on Sept. 13, 2023. (Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Kremlin via Reuters/File Photo)

Putin will use our foes to supplement Russia’s weapons arsenal and to help unbalance Washington, in order to slow down and disrupt its decision-making, especially during a crisis.

The Russian leader is acutely aware that the Biden administration seeks to bleed out Russia economically through sanctions and militarily by supplying weapons to Ukraine, sufficient to prolong the war and keep Russia in the fight but insufficient for Kyiv to win.

Putin’s nuclear........

© Fox News