With Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov's visit to Pyongyang, Moscow is looking to make sure the world knows it cannot be ignored when it comes to North Korea.
Mr Lavrov's invite to Kim Jong-un to visit Russia plays into a constant theme of Russian foreign policy – that it wants to counter US influence. The prospects for the summit between President Donald Trump and Mr Kim have ebbed and flowed in recent weeks, as each leader tries to minimise the risk of looking foolish, and it is into this uncertainty that Russia has stepped.
Mr Kim has accepted the offer of a bilateral summit with Russia sometime this year, according to Pyongyang state media, while the North Korean leader's remarks at the meeting with Mr Lavrov, complaining about attempts at “US hegemony” in the region, will be music to ears within the Kremlin.
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