Russian President Vladimir Putin has thanked North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for his support for Moscow’s war in Ukraine at a meeting in Pyongyang where they are expected to agree a new strategic partnership to deepen trade and military ties.
“We highly appreciate your consistent and unchanging support of the Russian policies, including in the Ukrainian direction,” Putin told Kim, on his first visit to the isolated communist country in more than two decades.
Kim praised Russia’s “important role and mission in preserving the strategic stability and balance in the world”, vowing to “strengthen strategic interaction with Russia” as the global geopolitical situation is “exacerbating and changing rapidly”.