Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin are buddies, which certainly doesn’t bode for international relations. They’re apparently so close that Putin gave his North Korean counterpart a luxury Russian-made limo on Thursday—the second such gift this year. The two celebrated the diplomatic gift-giving by taking the Aurus Senat for a drive.
If I hadn’t seen it myself I would have thought it was created with AI or a skit. The footage, shown on Russian state TV, shows Putin and Kim having a jolly good time driving around what looks to be a park. The two switch places to let Kim drive before heading back to what could only be Kim’s palace, the Guardian reports.
So what exactly is this limo that Putin gave to Kim? It’s a massive luxury car called an Aurus Senat. The Russian-made limo is the country’s take on a Rolls-Royce or Maybach-style luxury car. The Aurus brand was established in 2018 after Putin wanted a new luxury vehicle for his motorcade. In 2021, Aurus introduced the first model available for purchase by the public, the Senat.
The Senat is available in three lengths: the standard Senat, the Senat Long and Senat Limousine which is what Putin gifted Kim. Power comes from a 4.4-liter twin-turbo hybrid V8 with 590 horsepower developed by Porsche, according to Autoweek.
As far as looks go, it looks, well, like a Rolls which I think was the point. From the massive front grille to the wheels to the luxurious interior, it just looks exactly like something a dictator would use to roll over his citizens. Aurus also makes what looks to be a Cullinan clone called the Komendant.
What’s wild about all this is that this is the second Senat Putin has gifted Kim in less than six months. In late February, Putin gave Kim his first Senat with the one in the video above obviously being the second. Meanwhile Kim reportedly gave Putin artwork including several busts the BBC reports and two Pungsan dog, a North Korean hunting breed, according to NDTV.
I’m just trying to imagine riding along with these two brutal dictators, one currently waging a bloody invasion into a sovereign country, the other, continuing a brutal decades-long oppressive regime against his own people. It makes you wonder exactly who do you think was in charge of the radio?