Putin, Kim Exchange Rifles As Gifts

Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gifted each other rifles at a space centre in Russia, the Kremlin has said.

The Russian leader also presented his counterpart from Pyongyang with a glove from a cosmonaut’s space suit.

Asked whether the two had exchanged gifts, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said  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.

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 that Putin “gracefully 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.

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.

Meanwhile, on Friday, Kim arrived in the Russian Far Eastern city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur to visit a facility where Russian fighter jets are built, Russia’s State-run TASS news agency reported.

TASS reported that Kim was met by the Regional Governor and other officials on a red carpet at the town’s railway station.

He was then taken to the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Plant, which produces Russia’s most modern warplanes, including the Su-35 and Su-57, TASS said.

ALJAZEERA