Letter sent to mark anniversary of end of Japan’s colonial occupation of Korea is latest sign of increasingly close ties between two leaders

President Vladimir Putin held a phone call with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and updated him on planned talks the Russian leader will hold with U.S. President Donald Trump in Alaska this week, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.

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,