MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during an official visit to Pyongyang, the Russian parliament said on Thursday. Volodin, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin,

North Korea’s leader, who’s providing the Russians with millions of badly needed artillery shells and other equipment as well as thousands of troops,

Putin during the call on Tuesday praised the “bravery, heroism and self-sacrificing spirit” displayed by North Korean troops as they fought with Russian forces to repel a Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk border region,