North Korea’s Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui praised the ‘spiritual closeness’ between the two states.
Published On 27 Oct 202527 Oct 2025
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Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has met North Korea’s Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui in the latest high-level engagement between the two countries, which have strengthened ties during the Ukraine war.
Footage released by Russian state news agencies showed Putin greeting Choe in the Kremlin on Monday. Russia’s top diplomat Sergey Lavrov also appeared at the meeting.
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Putin said the countries’ “relations and development prospects” are progressing “according to plan”, and extended regards to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, according to Russia’s Sputnik news agency. Choe, in turn, passed on “warm wishes” from Kim, having earlier praised the “spiritual closeness” of the two nations’ relationship in talks with Lavrov.
Russia and North Korea, both under extensive Western sanctions, have significantly bolstered ties in recent years, including signing a 2024 defence pact committing each country to provide military support to the other in the event of “aggression”.
Since then, North Korea has sent around 10,000 troops to join Russia’s war against Ukraine, at least 600 of whom have died in combat, according to estimates from Seoul and Kyiv.
Several days ago, Kim held a ceremony marking the opening of a museum in Pyongyang to honour the North Korean troops killed in the conflict. He said their deployment “marked the beginning of a new history of militant solidarity” with Russia, with which there is an “invincible” alliance.
Putin last met Kim in person on September 3 in Beijing, where the leaders held official talks after attending a military parade hosted by China’s President Xi Jinping. At the time, Putin praised North Korean soldiers for fighting “courageously and heroically” in the Ukraine war.
“I would like to note that we will never forget the sacrifices that your armed forces and the families of your servicemen have suffered,” Putin said.
The deepening Russia-North Korea relationship has drawn concern from the United States, which says there is evidence that Russia is increasing technology support for North Korea, including in space and satellite programmes. After Putin and Kim’s September meeting, US President Donald Trump claimed they were conspiring against the US – a statement dismissed by the Kremlin.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Turkish President Recep Erdogan on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit in Tianjin, China in September. Putin has announced Russia tested a nuclear missile and is ready to deploy it. File photo by Russia’s Presidential Office/UPI | License Photo
Oct. 26 (UPI) — Russian President Vladimir Putin said the country has tested a new, nuclear-capable missile and is preparing to deploy it.
The weapon runs on nuclear power, which makes it capable of flying much further than other missiles, according to the Kremlin, and is able to evade missile detection and defense systems.
“This is a unique product that no one in the world has, Putin, dressed in military fatigues, said during a meeting with military commanders, according to a video posted by the Kremlin. “We need to identify potential uses and begin preparing the infrastructure for deploying this weapon in our armed forces.”
Valery V. Gerasimov, general staff of the Russian armed forces, said the missile had remained in flight for 15 hours and traveled 8,700 miles during testing.
“It is a tiny flying Chernobyl,” Gerasimov said during a briefing, referring to a nuclear power plant in Ukraine that became widely known for a catastrophic explosion in 1986.
The missile, known as the SSC-X-9, has been in development for years, and while Putin’s announcement was not a surprise, nuclear experts say it is a bad turn of events.
“This is a bad development,” said Jeffrey Lewis, a nuclear nonproliferation expert at Middlebury College. “It is one more science fiction weapon that is going to be destabilizing and hard to address in arms control.”
Putin’s announcement of the missile revives the back and forth between the United States and Russia over nuclear arms, but the first action since President Donald Trump took office in January.
It is the latest in a long series of volleys over nuclear arms between the two countries stretching back decades.
They cited “numerous allegations” of Russia and China using proxy actors to sabotage subsea cables in the Baltic and Indo-Pacific.
They panned Labour’s former telecoms minister Chris Bryant for dismissing their concerns as “apocalyptic”.
The report said: “The Minister (Bryant) suggested that exploring the risks of a co-ordinated attack on subsea infrastructure was unhelpfully “apocalyptic”.
“We disagree. Focusing on fishing accidents and low-level sabotage is no longer good enough.”
The report warned the UK faces a “strategic vulnerability”.
Proper “defensive preparations” could reduce the chances of a sabotage attack, it added.
Russia reveals Putin’s red line for full scale WW3 with West after double drone invasions of Poland & Romania spark fury
Sir David Omand, a former GCHQ spychief, warned Britain would be in Russia’s “crosshairs” in the event of a ceasefire in Ukraine.
He said: “We really must expect the Russians to pick on us.”
Professor Kevin Rowlands, from the Royal Navy’s Strategic Studies Centre, told the committee that Russia’s GUGI had over 50 vessels including submarines that could dive to 6,000 metres.
He raised fears over vessels deliberately dragging their anchors to sever seabed cables and saboteurs armed with axes cut cables on land.
He said: “Dragging an anchor over a well‑plotted cable is easy and deniable.
“Pre-positioning any timed charges is difficult and risky for whoever is doing that.
“Using divers is difficult and, again, is trackable.”
He added: “In the future, one-way uncrewed underwater vehicles are probably a way ahead for any adversary.”
The MoD said it was investing “in new capabilities to help protect our offshore infrastructure, using the latest technology”.
It said: “This includes through the UK-led reaction system Nordic Warden, to track potential threats to undersea infrastructure, the high-tech RFA Proteus and Atlantic Bastion – high tech sensors above and below the seas to track submarines.”
The Sun understands the advice came from lawyers paid by the Ministry of Defence to act on behalf of the SAS and its veterans.
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Underwater fiber-optic cable on ocean floor.Credit: Getty
Poland has intercepted Russian drones that were flying over its airspace after completing a mission in western Ukraine. It’s the first time a NATO member nation has fired shots in Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Manufacturing firm Ural, a motors company founded in 1941 in Western Siberia when it was under Joseph Stalin’s Soviet Union, now operates in Kazakhstan.
Warren complained he was unable to obtain the correct parts to fix the motorcycle because of supply-and-demand issues and sanctions on Russia.
State-sponsored Russian media spotted Warren running errands on the bike one week before the Trump and Putin summit.
He said: “It went viral, it went crazy, and I have no idea why, because Im really just a super-duper normal guy.
“They just interviewed some old guy on a Ural, and for some reason they think its cool.”
On August 13, two days before the Trump-Putin summit to discuss the war in Ukraine, Warren received a call from a Russian journalist.
They told him: “They’ve decided to give you a bike.”
Warren said he was also sent a document noting the gift was arranged through the Russian Embassy in the States.
The Alaska man thought it was a scam – but after Trump and Putin departed Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson following their three-hour summit, he got another call about the bike.
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Warren was told his new £16,000 bike was at the same base the world leaders had met at.
He was instructed to go to an Anchorage hotel for the handoff.
After arriving alongside his wife, he met six Russian men who presented him with the mind-boggling gift.
“I dropped my jaw,” he said.
“I went, ‘You’ve got to be joking me’.”
He said the men only asked to interview and picture him.
Two reporters and someone from the group got on the bike with him while he drove around the car park to show it off.
The lucky punter had reservations about the Ural being a malicious Russian scam.
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Putin pictured driving a motorbike in 2019Credit: AP:Associated Press
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Warren posing with his old and new bikeCredit: AP
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Putin speaking during the press conference in Alaska on FridayCredit: AP
But he accepted the gift, which according to its paperwork was manufactured on August 12.
He said: “The obvious thing here is that it rolled off the showroom floor and slid into a jet within probably 24 hours.”
And he told the Daily Mail: “I’m dumbfounded. I guess I should probably write Putin a thank you letter or something.
“I haven’t. I’ve been so busy it hasn’t really sunk in yet.”
He added: “It’s super cool, you know? I mean, it’s just such a unique bike.”
It comes as Putin continues to wage his bloody war on Ukraine.
The despot unleashed a fresh breakthrough assault just hours before his summit with Trump.
And just hours after Trump’s summit with European allies, Russia blitzed Ukraine over Monday night with 270 drones and missiles.
The brutal attacks targeted energy and transport infrastructure.
Just before Zelesnky and his European counterparts were set to meet Trump on Monday, another vicious attack killed 14 people and injured dozens in Ukraine.
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He said he should write a thank you letter to PutinCredit: AP
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Russia launches fresh strikes on Ukraine, August 19Credit: Getty
As Russian President Vladimir Putin prepares for a summit in Alaska with his United States counterpart Donald Trump, he can draw on his experiences from 48 previous meetings with American presidents.
Over 25 years as Russia’s leader, Putin has met and worked with five US presidents: Bill Clinton, George W Bush, Barack Obama, Trump and Joe Biden.
While some of the earlier meetings were relatively warm, reflecting the hopes of US-Russia friendship between the end of the Cold War and the early 2000s, most of Putin’s more recent interactions — especially with Obama and Biden — have been frostier, as bilateral ties have worsened.
Here’s a recap of some of the key moments from those past meetings, and how jazz concerts and fishing trips gave way to threats.
Bill Clinton shares a light moment with Putin during a tree-planting ceremony before the G8 meeting in Nago, Okinawa, Japan, on July 21, 2000 [Vincent Yu/AP Photo]
June 2000: Putin-Clinton
Less than three months after he formally became president of Russia, Putin hosted US President Clinton in Moscow. The Russian leader took Clinton on a tour of the Kremlin, after which a Russian jazz group performed for them.
Clinton congratulated Putin on Russia’s decision to ratify two arms control treaties. “President Yeltsin led Russia to freedom. Under President Putin, Russia has the chance to build prosperity and strength, while safeguarding that freedom and the rule of law,” Clinton said, referring to Boris Yeltsin, Putin’s predecessor as president.
Putin, on his part, described the US as “one of our main partners”. Moscow, he said, would never again seek confrontation with Washington. “Never. We are for cooperation. We are for coming to agreement on problems that might arise,” he said.
But Clinton acknowledged their differences over Chechnya, where Russian forces had launched a major war the previous year, after a series of apartment blasts in Russia killed more than 300 people. Moscow blamed Chechen separatists for the explosions.
The Moscow meeting was the first of four between Putin and Clinton in 2000, the others on the margins of multilateral events, before the US president left office in January the following year.
George W Bush and Putin during a toast at Bush ranch, Crawford, Texas, on November 14, 2001 [AP Photo]
November 2001: Putin-Bush
After the September 11 attacks, Putin was the first world leader to call then-US President Bush and offer support. Two months later, Bush hosted Putin at his Crawford, Texas ranch, optimism about ties dripping from his words.
“When I was in high school, Russia was an enemy. Now the high school students can know Russia as a friend; that we’re working together to break the old ties, to establish a new spirit of cooperation and trust so that we can work together to make the world more peaceful,” Bush said. Bush drove Putin in a pick-up truck to a waterfall on the ranch.
But by the time they met in Russia in November 2002, US-led efforts for NATO expansion had injected unease into the relationship.
Putin holding up a fish he caught in Maine, while visiting Bush and his family on July 2, 2007 [AP Photo]
July 2007: Putin-Bush
By this point, the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 had amplified tensions between the two countries. But despite differences, Bush continued to maintain a warm personal relationship with Putin, whom he hosted at his parents’ home in Kennebunkport, Maine.
Both acknowledged areas where their views diverged, but they each credited the other with transparency.
Bush took Putin fishing. The Russian president was the only one who caught a fish on that trip – it was set free, Putin said.
Bush, left, and Putin, look on during a news conference at the Russian leader’s residence in Sochi, Russia, on April 6, 2008 [Gerald Herbert/AP Photo]
April 2008: Putin-Bush
The final meeting between Bush and Putin as presidents took place in Sochi, Russia, and was focused on US plans to expand a missile defence system in Europe that Russia was opposing.
There was no breakthrough – the two leaders agreed to disagree.
But their personal rapport appeared intact. Bush met Putin 28 times in total. He only met British Prime Minister Tony Blair more.
Barack Obama meets with Putin in Moscow on July 7, 2009 [Haraz N Ghanbari/AP Photo]
July 2009: Putin-Obama
Putin was now prime minister, with ally Dmitry Medvedev the Russian president.
US President Obama met Putin during a visit to Moscow. By now, differences had grown over Russia’s invasion of Georgia in 2008, which the US had opposed.
“We may not end up agreeing on everything, but I think that we can have a tone of mutual respect and consultation that will serve both the American people and the Russian people well,” Obama told Putin.
Obama meets with Putin in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, on June 17, 2013 [Evan Vucci/ AP Photo]
June 2013: Putin-Obama
As Obama met Putin on the margins of the G8 summit in Northern Ireland — Russia had been added to the grouping in 1998 and was expelled in 2014 after its annexation of Crimea — their frustration with each other was visible in an awkward photo that made headlines.
The US and its allies wanted then-Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to quit amid the civil war in that country, but Russia was backing him.
“With respect to Syria, we do have differing perspectives on the problem, but we share an interest in reducing the violence; securing chemical weapons and ensuring that they’re neither used nor are they subject to proliferation,” Obama said.
Obama talks with Putin at the opening session of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Lima, Peru, on November 20, 2016 [Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo]
November 2016: Putin-Obama
By the time Obama and Putin met for the ninth and final time at the APEC Summit in Peru, there was no pretence of bonhomie.
Russia had accused the US of engineering a coup against its ally and former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014. The US and its allies had imposed sanctions against Russia over its annexation of Crimea.
Putin and Obama spoke for barely four minutes on the sidelines of the summit, with the US president asking his Russian counterpart to stick to his commitments under the Minsk agreements that were meant to bring peace to Ukraine.
Putin, right, and Trump give a joint news conference at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, Finland, on July 16, 2018 [Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo]
July 2018: Putin-Trump
A year and a half into his first presidency, Trump’s victory in the 2016 US presidential election was still clouded by accusations that Russia had interfered in the election on his behalf when he met Putin in Helsinki.
The two met alone, with only interpreters. In a media interaction after that, Putin tried to recast the relationship in optimistic hues. “The Cold War is a thing of past,” he said, before listing a series of modern challenges facing the world — from an environmental crisis to terrorism. “We can only cope with these challenges if we join the ranks and work together. Hopefully, we will reach this understanding with our American partners.”
But it was Trump who made headlines. After he acknowledged that he had discussed the allegations of election interference with Putin, Trump was asked whether he believed US intelligence agencies that had concluded that Moscow had intervened in the vote.
“I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today,” Trump said. “He just said it’s not Russia. I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be.”
Trump met Putin six times in all in his first term.
Putin, left, and Joe Biden shake hands in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 16, 2021 [Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo]
June 2021: Putin-Biden
US President Joe Biden flew to Geneva for his only face-to-face meeting with Putin.
After years of steady deterioration, relations had reached their nadir after Biden had described Putin as a killer in March, prompting Russia to withdraw its ambassador from Washington. The US had followed.
The Geneva meeting helped reset ties – a bit. Both countries agreed to reappoint ambassadors.
But Biden was also blunt with Putin about US concerns over Russian election interference and cyberattacks, and said he had, in effect, threatened Moscow that Washington could launch tit-for-tat cyberstrikes.
Russia by then was building up its troop presence along the border with Ukraine, a key source of stress in ties with the US that came up during the Putin-Biden meeting.
Eight months later, Russia would launch a fully fledged invasion of Ukraine, marking the start of Europe’s largest war since World War II — a war Trump says he wants to end through the summit in Alaska on August 15.
Russia says both sides affirm intention for Putin-Trump meet in Alaska on Friday, where Ukraine war set to be discussed.
The top diplomats from Russia and the United States have held a phone call ahead of a planned meeting this week between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In a post on Telegram on Tuesday, the ministry said Sergei Lavrov said the two sides had reaffirmed their intention to hold successful talks. The US Department of State did not immediately confirm the talks.
But speaking shortly after the announcement, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt revealed that Trump would meet with Putin in the city of Anchorage. She said the pair would discuss ending Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“On Friday morning, Trump will travel across the country to Anchorage, Alaska for a bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin,” Leavitt told reporters.
She added that Trump “is determined to try and end this war and stop the killing”.
On Monday, Trump told reporters he was “going to see” what Putin “has in mind” when it comes to a deal to end the fighting.
Trump also said he and Putin would discuss “land swapping”, indicating he may support an agreement that sees Russia maintain control of at least some of the Ukrainian territory it occupies.
Kyiv has repeatedly said that any deal that would see it cede occupied land – including Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia – to Russia would be a non-starter.
On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Putin wants Ukraine to withdraw from the remaining 30 percent of the Donetsk region that Ukraine controls as part of a ceasefire deal, saying the position had been conveyed to him by a US official.
He reiterated Ukraine would not withdraw from the territories it controls, noting that such a move would go against the country’s constitution and would serve only as a springboard for a future Russian invasion.
Moscow has maintained that any deal must require Ukraine to relinquish some of the territories Russia has seized since 2014. He has also called for a pause to Western aid for Ukraine and an end to Kyiv’s efforts to join the NATO military alliance.
Friday’s planned meeting will be the first time Putin has been in the US since 2015, when he attended the UN General Assembly.
The pair met six times during Trump’s first presidency, including a 2018 summit in Helsinki, during which Trump sided with Putin – and undermined the US intelligence community – by saying Russia did not meddle in the 2016 election.
Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov says a Trump-Putin meeting could happen as soon as next week.
US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are preparing to meet “in the coming days”, a Kremlin official has said, as a United States deadline for Russia to agree to a ceasefire in its war on Ukraine or face economic penalties approaches.
Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov said on Thursday that a Trump-Putin meeting could happen as early as next week. A location has been chosen, he added, though it would be revealed at a later stage.
“At the request of the American side, both parties have effectively agreed to hold a high-level bilateral meeting in the coming days,” Ushakov told reporters.
The announcement follows Trump’s remarks on Wednesday that he was hopeful of holding a joint meeting with both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “very soon”. Trump has warned Moscow that unless a ceasefire is reached by Friday, it will face broader sanctions.
Ushakov said the prospect of a three-way summit came up during talks in Moscow with Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, who met Putin for the fifth time earlier this week. Russia offered no official comment on the potential trilateral meeting.
Zelenskyy signalled support for such a summit, writing on X that “Ukraine is not afraid of meetings and expects the same brave approach from the Russian side”. He added that discussions had included “two bilateral and one trilateral” format, insisting Europe must be involved in efforts to end the war.
Despite multiple visits to Moscow by Witkoff since Trump entered office in January after promising to end the war, no breakthrough has materialised. Trump acknowledged the lack of progress, saying: “I don’t call it a breakthrough … we have been working at this for a long time. There are thousands of young people dying … I’m here to get the thing over with.”
The Kremlin described Witkoff’s latest discussions as “constructive” and said both sides had exchanged “signals”, though it provided few specifics. Meanwhile, Zelenskyy confirmed he had spoken with Trump about the meeting, alongside European leaders.
Expectations remain low that a peace deal will be reached before Trump’s deadline. Russia continues to launch air strikes across Ukraine, and Moscow’s conditions for ending the war, such as Kyiv’s demilitarisation, neutrality and renunciation of NATO membership, remain non-starters for Ukraine and its Western allies.
Putin also demands Ukrainian withdrawal from Russian-occupied regions, the formal recognition of Crimea, and the lifting of international sanctions. Kyiv has consistently rejected those terms.
Meanwhile, the White House has approved an additional $200m military aid package for Ukraine, including support for drone manufacturing. And in a separate move, Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday imposing 25 percent tariffs on Indian imports over its ongoing purchases of Russian oil.
The government of Brazil has announced an agreement to acknowledge its responsibility in the murder of Vladimir Herzog, a journalist and dissident who was killed during the country’s dictatorship period.
On Thursday, the government agreed to a statement of liability and a compensation package for Herzog’s family, amounting to 3 million Brazilian reais, or $544,800.
The settlement also affirmed the decision of a federal court earlier this year to grant Herzog’s widow, Clarice Herzog, retroactive payments of a pension she should have received after her husband’s death, amounting to about $6,000 per month.
In a statement recorded by The Associated Press news agency, Herzog’s son, Ivo Herzog, applauded the government’s decision to accept responsibility.
“This apology is not merely symbolic,” Ivo said. “It is an act by the state that makes us believe the current Brazilian state doesn’t think like the Brazilian state of that time.”
He added that his family’s story represented hundreds, if not thousands, of others who had their loved ones killed during the dictatorship period from 1964 to 1985.
Having the government acknowledge its wrongdoing, he explained, has been a decades-long fight.
“This has been a struggle not only of the Herzog family, but of all the families of the murdered and disappeared,” said Ivo, who now runs a human rights nonprofit named for his father, the Vladimir Herzog Institute.
Vladimir Herzog was 38 years old at the time of his death in 1975, midway through the dictatorship period.
The Brazilian army had overthrown left-wing President Joao Goulart a decade earlier and installed a government that became known for human rights abuses, including the arbitrary arrest and torture of dissidents, students, politicians, Indigenous people and anyone else deemed to be a threat.
Many went into exile. Some were killed or simply disappeared without a trace. The number of deaths is estimated to be about 500, though some experts place that figure at 10,000 or higher.
Herzog was a prominent journalist, and initially, he too went into exile in the United Kingdom. But he returned to Brazil to serve as the news editor for a public television station, TV Cultura. It was in that role that, on October 24, 1975, Herzog was summoned by authorities to an army barrack.
There, military officials indicated he would be asked to testify about his political connections. Herzog voluntarily left to offer his statement. But he never returned home.
The military later claimed Herzog’s death was a suicide, and it released a staged photo of his body hanging from a rope.
But a rabbi who later examined Herzog’s body found signs of torture. Herzog’s funeral, conducted with full religious rites, turned into a moment of reckoning for the Brazilian dictatorship, and the staged photograph became a symbol of its abuses.
His son Ivo was only nine years old at the time. Earlier this year, he spoke to Al Jazeera about the release of a film called I’m Still Here that highlighted another murder committed under the dictatorship: that of Rubens Paiva, a politician.
Like Herzog, Paiva voluntarily left to give testimony at the request of military officials and was never seen alive again. His body was never found. It took decades for Paiva’s family to receive a death certificate that acknowledged the military’s role in his death.
Ivo praised the film I’m Still Here for raising awareness about the injustices of the dictatorship. He also told Al Jazeera that he hoped for the Brazilian government to acknowledge the harm it had done to his family and to amend the 1979 Amnesty Law that shielded many military officials from facing accountability.
“What are they waiting for? For everyone connected to that period to die?” Herzog told journalist Eleonore Hughes. “Brazil has a politics of forgetfulness, and we have evolved very, very little.”
On Thursday, Jorge Messias, Brazil’s federal legal counsellor, framed the agreement with the Herzog family as a step forward.
“Today, we are witnessing something unprecedented: The Brazilian state formally honouring the memory of Vladimir Herzog,” he said.
He also compared the 1964 coup d’etat with the modern circumstances of Brazilian politics. On January 8, 2023, thousands of supporters of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro stormed government buildings in Brazil’s capital, after the 2022 election saw their candidate defeated.
The current president, left-wing leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has compared that incident to a coup. Bolsonaro testified this month in court over charges he helped orchestrate an effort to overturn the election result.
“In the 2022 election, we stood at a crossroads: Either to reaffirm democracy or move toward the closure of the Brazilian state, with all the horrors we lived through for 21 years,” Messias said, referencing the horrors of the dictatorship.
![Putin holding up a fish he caught in Maine, while visiting US President George W Bush and his family on July 2, 2007 [FILE: AP Photo]](https://www.occasionaldigest.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/AP070702046635-1755085043.jpg)
