MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during an official visit to Pyongyang, the Russian parliament said on Thursday. Volodin, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin,

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone call to discuss their deepening ties and war efforts against Ukraine, the countries’ state media said Wednesday, ahead of Putin’s planned meeting with U.

Putin during the call on Tuesday praised the “bravery, heroism and self-sacrificing spirit” displayed by North Korean troops as they fought with Russian forces to repel a Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk border region,