developing "as planned", as he hosted North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui in the Kremlin. Choe passed on "warm wishes" from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un after she had earlier hailed the "spiritual closeness" between Moscow and Pyongyang during a meeting with her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. The visit is the latest in a flurry of diplomatic exchanges between the two countries and comes just days after Kim pledged to advance military ties with Moscow. Here's what we know about relations between the two countries:

North Korea, one of the world's most diplomatically isolated nations, has deepened cooperation with Russia since Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022. Russia and North Korea signed a strategic partnership agreement in 2024 that obliges either side to provide "military and other assistance" should the other be attacked. In late 2024, North Korea sent thousands of soldiers and container loads of weapons to help Russia push Ukrainian forces out of its western Kursk region. At least 600 North Korean soldiers died during that offensive and thousands more sustained injuries, according to South Korean estimates. Moscow and Pyongyang spent months denying and ignoring Western reports of the deployment. (Bssnews)