President Vladimir Putin is visiting North Korea and Vietnam in the coming weeks, according to a report by the business newspaper Vedomosti on Monday, which cited Russian diplomats.
Russia’s Ambassador to North Korea, Alexander Matsegora, confirmed to the newspaper that he is “actively preparing” for Putin’s visit to Pyongyang but did not provide an exact date or specify the purpose of the trip.
An unnamed diplomat mentioned by Vedomosti stated that Putin will visit North Korea first before heading to Vietnam.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the report when questioned by journalists on Monday, saying only that “when the time comes, we will make appropriate announcements.”
Last month, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko informed journalists that preparations were underway for Putin’s visits to North Korea and Vietnam.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un invited Putin to visit his country in September during his rare trip to Russia’s Far East. During that visit, Moscow promised to assist with North Korea’s space program, while Putin mentioned potential military cooperation with Pyongyang.
Since that visit, Western governments have accused North Korea of unlawfully supplying weapons to Russia for use in Ukraine.
Putin’s last visit to North Korea was in 2000, when he met with Kim Jong Un’s father, former North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.
Meanwhile, Vietnamese media previously reported that Nguyen Phu Trong, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, invited Putin to visit the country this year. Putin last visited Vietnam in 2017.
Since starting his fifth term as president in early May, Putin has traveled to China, Belarus, and Uzbekistan.
