Russia Formally Invites Kim Jong-un to Visit

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko told Russia's TASS news agency on September 24, 2026 that 'Chairman Kim has been invited to visit our country,' with the timing to be arranged through diplomatic channels. Rudenko said 'Russia will always be glad to welcome the leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.' Putin first invited Kim to Russia after their June 2024 Pyongyang summit and repeated the invitation when the two met in Beijing in September 2025 for the 80th anniversary commemorations of the end of World War II in Asia. Speculation about a Kim visit grew after Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui travelled to Moscow in July 2026 at the Russian Foreign Ministry's invitation and met Putin. Kim's two prior trips to Russia, in 2019 and 2023, were to the Far East rather than Moscow.