North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met Russia’s parliamentary chief on Thursday as the DPRK kicked off celebrations of the 80th anniversary of its liberation from Japanese occupation, highlighting the two countries’ historic combat comradery and recent success fighting against Ukrainian “neo-Nazis.”

Russian Duma chairman Vyacheslav Volodin relayed “warm greetings” from leader Vladimir Putin and congratulated Kim on the occasion, the lower house of the Russian parliament said in a press release.