Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by telephone with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on 12 August, three days before Putin is due to meet U.S. President Donald Trump in Anchorage, Alaska. The Kremlin said Putin updated Kim on the forthcoming U.S.–Russia talks and briefed him on the war in Ukraine. According to Kremlin and North Korean read-outs, the two leaders reaffirmed their 2024 strategic partnership and agreed to deepen cooperation. Putin expressed “high appreciation” for Pyongyang’s military assistance, including the deployment of more than 10,000 North Korean troops that Moscow says helped recapture Russia’s Kursk region from Ukrainian forces. State media in Pyongyang described the conversation as the first publicly disclosed phone call by Kim with a foreign leader, underscoring the expanding alignment between Moscow and Pyongyang. The timing of the call has prompted analysts to watch whether North Korean issues will surface during Friday’s Putin-Trump summit, which is expected to focus on ending the four-year Ukraine war.