“While interacting one-on-one, Kim Jong Un invited Putin to visit North Korea. Putin accepted the invitation with gratitude,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday. “Everything will be further coordinated via diplomatic channels.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will also travel to Pyongyang in the coming weeks; Peskov predicted his trip would take place “at some point in October.”

[I wonder how China will see this. They’re all chummy but China has been the primary handler of Pyongyang, and Xi might be a little worried at some point that Kim could be looking to work around Beijing on certain matters. On the other hand, perhaps Beijing is setting this up so that Kim can serve as middleman for China arms sales to Russia. — Ed]