China figures unification will bring all of Korea under their sway. Russia must counter that somehow.
And strong US insistence on neither of this occurring, and pointing out to china and russia their weak positions, all the while preventing the outbreak of another proxy war between chi-coms and russia for “ownership” of the client state NK.
The timing of all this russia and syria shite is predictable, because it is intended to “reinvent” and “reset” who is at the negotiating table. The russians seriously are not.
And Japan— waiting in the wings.
I think a unified Korea will be a force to be reckoned with and nobody's puppet.