The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin and his North Korean counterpart, Kim Jong Un gifted each other rifles when they met at a space centre in Russia week, the Kremlin has confirmed.
This was even as it revealed that the Russian leader also presented his counterpart from Pyongyang with a glove from a cosmonaut’s space suit.
Kim visited Putin on Wednesday at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Amur area of the Russian Far East. The two leaders exchanged a 40-second handshake in greeting before Kim arrived there in his armoured train from North Korea.
Asked whether the two had exchanged gifts, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that Putin gave Kim a high-quality Russian-made rifle and a glove from a spacesuit “that had been in space several times”.
In turn, Kim gave Putin a North Korean-made gun, among other gifts, Peskov said.
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The Russian president “gave [Kim] a rifle from our production of the highest quality. In return, he also received a North Korean-made rifle,” Peskov said.
Putin has a keen interest in the outdoor life and hunting, posting numerous photos of himself over the years engaged in outdoor pursuits in the Russian countryside with other senior officials.
Moscow also confirmed on Thursday that Putin “gratefully accepted Kim’s invitation” to visit the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, which North Korea’s state television had earlier announced.
Peskov said Moscow will first “quickly prepare” to send Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to Pyongyang, with his trip expected in October, before a Putin visit can be arranged.
Africa Today News, New York reports that it would be Putin’s second trip to North Korea. He last visited in July 2000 to meet Kim’s late father Kim Jong-il, just months after being elected to the presidency. Kim last visited Russia in 2019.